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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Study: Sleep-Deprived Police Officers Risk Everyone’s Safety


Many police officers are putting themselves — and the public — at risk by failing to address their sleep problems and excessive fatigue, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests.
Of the nearly 5,000 officers surveyed, 40% screened positive for a sleep disorder such as insomnia or sleep apnea, and the vast majority had never received treatment for their problem. Most alarming of all, 46% of the officers acknowledged nodding off behind the wheel, and 26% said they did so at least once or twice a month.
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8 comments:

Jack K Richards said...

From about 3am till 7am it can be a ball buster with nothing going on. Even the bad guys are sleeping lol Boring as hell

Anonymous said...

Doctors and health experts have been saying this for years, but yet police departments country wide turn a blind eye to all of the experts.

Anonymous said...

7 years of working two week day/evening rotations has destroyed my ability to sleep. I'm always tired, even after days off. Getting off at 3am then up again at 7am to get ready for court, then afternoon court at 1pm, then work another evening shift. When are we suppose to sleep? When will command staffs get their heads out of the stone age and create a fixed schedule. They wonder why LE officer moral is low.

Anonymous said...

A lot of good that oh so powerful fraternal brotherhood is huh?? Why doesn't the FOP recognize/admit this and work to solve the problem? It just may (WILL) save lives.

Anonymous said...

What does the FOP have to do with this? Any cop or FOP will tell you they're over worked and underslept.

Anonymous said...

Well they are a fraternal brotherhood union right? They are instrumental in collective bargaining.
They are instrumental in defending and protecting criminal elements in law enforcement.
They are instrumental in lobbying judges for reduced sentences for officers that have gone astray.
They are instrumental in determining protocol and have great influence with legislators to establish such protocol. Why aren't they more proactive as to the working conditions of their brother officers?

Anonymous said...

hardly, sorry you are so far out of touch with the real world

Anonymous said...

@2:55. What reality are you living in? The FOP as aptly named is a Fraternity. They're everything in 9:37. When you see all the officer's brought up on charges the FOP is there defending/supporting them. When they're convicted the sentence is minimal. They have a lobby office in every state capitol and D.C. Why don't they insist on 8 hour shifts?
It would certainly help the officer's on the job deal with the criminals on the street and politics at HQ.