The Alarming Consequences of Police Working Overtime Research shows long hours as well as off-duty work can negatively impact officers’ performance and even worsen their racial biases. But most departments don’t seem to care.
Fatigue is bad for any work environment. But for police, the stakes are much higher. Officers have to respond to late-night calls, make split-second decisions and de-escalate tense situations -- sometimes in the middle of a 16-hour shift.
A small but growing body of research links long hours and officer fatigue to a host of public safety issues. Fatigue may do more than affect the way officers perform routine tasks such as maneuvering a patrol car -- recent evidence suggests it can influence their ability to exercise good judgment. Yet many law enforcement agencies maintain lax policies governing just how long officers can work, and some fail to track extra hours at all. Only a third of law enforcement agencies in the most recent federal Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey reported limiting how many overtime hours sworn personnel could work, and barely half placed a ceiling on off-duty employment. That’s a big problem, says Karen Amendola, the Police Foundation’s chief behavioral scientist. “If you put a lot of tired cops into a very sensitive situation, a lot could go wrong.”
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Not unsympathetic but ER doctors and Surgeons work 36 (or more) hour shifts. I’d rather have a tired cop than an ehausted surgeon.
ReplyDeleteYet those same police will write up a truck driver for driving too many hours in a row.
ReplyDeleteLike 10:43 not unsympathetic. Keep in mind that all the long hours are not just normal patrol. There are special events around the shore that require additional police presence i.e. carnivals, fairs, parades; bike rides, DUI/DWI patrols, school bus patrols, etc. Officers, Deputies and Troopers are asked to sign up for additional duty shifts to cover these events. Yes they get paid good money for the overtime but if they don't sign up then the special events go uncovered. That means that someone, on a regular shift, now has to just ride through event areas in between responding to calls for service. Get a call and you're gone. And before anyone jumps to a conclusion, no I'm not a police officer.
ReplyDeletePay police what they deserve to begin with and they wont have to work 20 plus overtime hours every pay period just to survive.
ReplyDelete