Police department to test out fire department style 24 hours shifts

Police department scheduling is always a continuous issue. 8-hour shifts, 10-hour shifts, 12-hours shifts, all have pros and cons. Shift minimums based on days of the week tend to be the real sticking point. As such one police chief is set to test out having his officers work 24-hour shifts.

shift work

An example of what 12 hour shifts looks like

Chief Tom Fessi says that it seems at times he needs people he is at just the right staffing level. At slow times though his shifts tend to be over staffed.

“For example nightshift. From 8pm till about 2am we need everyone who is scheduled. But from 3am till 8am we only need a few officers on duty. When we created a power shift rotation that allowed staff to go home at 3am we ended up haveing major car crashes or major calls that needed extra staff called back in.”

The police chief happened upon the idea when he stopped by the firehouse for a meeting with the fire chief.

“I guess I always knew they worked 24-hours. But it never fully dawned on me what a 24-hour shift means, until I saw the bunkroom. It hit me… sleep on duty time but be ready to respond if something big comes in.”

The chief is planning to run a staggered 24-hour schedule. One group of officers will work 2pm till 2pm. A second shift works from 8pm till 8pm.

“This allows us maximum coverage during all times of the day. In addition we will have staggered sleeping times, so officers can get 5-8 hours of sleep per shift. Keep in mind any officer sleeping will be subject to call out at a moments notice.”

Officers were initially skeptical untill the realization of working 1 day on then 2 days off hit them. They would only be working 10 days a month and have many weekends and holidays off. When put to a vote 85% of the union members voted in favor of trying out this new shift idea.

This new schedule is set to start Monday, May 5, 2014.

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The staff at the CallTheCops are all people who now or at one time did work as police, firefighters, in EMS and even dispatch.