| World Police and Fire Games | |
|---|---|
 WPFG Logo | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Various sporting events |
| Frequency | Biennial |
| Location(s) | Various |
| Inaugurated | 1985 (1985) |
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TheWorld Police and Fire Games (WPFG) is a biennial athletic event, open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world. The WPFG Federation is an arm of the California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF),[1] an American non-profit organization.
The Games attract approximately 10,000 entrants, slightly fewer than the SummerOlympic Games, and exceeding the third position holder, theCommonwealth Games.[citation needed] In the early 2010s, theUnited Kingdom hosted all three events consecutively; the2012 Summer Olympics inLondon,England, followed by the 2013 World Police and Fire Games inBelfast,Northern Ireland, and ending withGlasgow,Scotland, hosting the 2014Commonwealth Games - the first time all three events have been hosted by the same nation consecutively.
The host city of the 2015 World Police and Fire Game wasFairfax County, Virginia, in the United States, with venues located around theWashington metropolitan area.[2]
In 2017, the Games were scheduled to be held in the city of Montreal, however, Montreal backed out of their hosting duties after a labour dispute between the city and its fire department. The Games were quickly rescheduled and successfully held in Los Angeles.
In 2019 the host city was Chengdu in China.
The WPFG 2021 were postponed until 2022 because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022 the host city was Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
The 2023 Games were hosted in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada.
The California Police Olympics were first held in 1967. The concept evolved over the years and led to the creation of the World Police & Fire Games Federation—a non-profit organization, run by the Californian Police Athletics Federation—in 1983. Two years later, in 1985, the first World Police & Fire Games were held inSan Jose, California, USA, with nearly 5,000 competitors.[3]
The largest WPFG games to date was held in New York, New York, USA with over 16,000 athletes in attendance, from 59 nations.[4]
The most successful and best organised was inBelfast,Northern Ireland in 2013.[5] It was described, by the President of the World Police and Fire Games Federation, Mike Graham, as "the friendliest and best Games ever".[6]
The Montreal Firefighters Association called for a boycott of the 2017 Games, which were held in their own city, in protest against forced changes to their collective agreements and pension funds by the City of Montreal and the Quebec provincial government. Labor unions representing over 100,000 firefighters and civil servants joined Montreal's firefighters in the boycott.[7][8]
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