Back To Permanent Shifts For GPD
Interim Police Chief Tim Bellamy has announced a return to permanent shifts for patrol officers in the Greensboro Police Department. Officers have been on a rotating shift schedule for the past three years. GPD moved to permanent shifts in the 1990’s, but former Chief David Wray implemented rotating shifts in January 2004 — a change that was met with opposition at the time and has continued to be a problem for the department.
Interim Chief Bellamy charged a committee with studying patrol schedules and making recommendations to increase manpower, morale and self-initiated activity. The committee recommended a 4/4 schedule (four days on, four days off), with a 5/4 compromise. Bellamy chose the 5/4 option.
The committee’s report reveals that self-initiated activity has decreased significantly since the implementation of rotating shifts, apparently associated with a “constant state of fatigue” brought on by shift rotation. Research appears to supports that view.
Most rotating shift workers develop “sleep debt.” Over time, this can result in impaired job performance, as well as diminished motivation and attitude, absenteeism, tardiness and carelessness. The decrease in self-initiated activity noted by GPD’s officers is another example of impaired job performance resulting from sleep debt.
The committee’s report also cites health and safety concerns — again, supported by research. Rotating shifts negatively affect employee health, quality of life and job satisfaction (one link, of many). Rotating shifts cause disruptions in personal and family life and can contribute to marginalization and isolation from the community (one link, of many).
A 1986 study of police officers in New York compared an “experimental group” of officers on fixed shifts with a comparison group of officers working rotating shifts. At the end of a year, patrol officers “reported lower levels of job frustration, fewer physical symptoms of stress, and more positive benefits in their personal lives from their steady tour duty charts. Similar changes were not evident among the comparison group officers [rotating shifts], and it is reasonable to attribute the reduced stress levels among the officers in the [experimental group] to the program operating there.” Researchers suggested that the NYPD consider extending fixed shifts to officers in all precincts, based on their research. Other studies have produced similar findings.
The GPD committee report also notes that “large progressive agencies appear to be realizing the benefits of permanent shifts and implementing change. Police departments are moving away from rotating shifts. In cities with more than 100,000 populations, permanent shift assignments are widely used to facilitate the assignment of officers to shifts according to workload.” Indeed, a 2005 survey found that 70% of larger police agencies employ fixed shifts. [“Larger” was defined as 201+ sworn officers. GPD has 547 sworn officers.]
The available information suggests that the decision to reinstate permanent shifts was the best decision for the department and for Greensboro. I have seen nothing to indicate that rotating patrol shifts contribute positively to the work or the morale of the Greensboro Police Department. I applaud the committee’s hard work and Interim Chief Bellamy’s decision.
Other discussions about this topic:
>> “Why end rotating shifts now?”, on Greensboro City Council member Sandy Carmany’s blog
>> “Rotation notation”, on Ed Cone’s blog
>> “Stable shifts”, on Joe Guarino’s blog
>> “More rotation”, on Ed Cone’s blog
with all of the available research, it sounds like the fixed schedule should never have been changed. what exactly was chief wray’s rationale?
Great post Michele.
Regarding Wray’s rationale, I think at least part of it was to get more experienced officers on the less-desired shifts. Sounds like that may not be much of a problem though.
The N&R on Wray on rotating shifts: ” Rotating shifts provide for continuous learning and for fairness in patrol assignments, he said. Junior officers are now more interested in seeking supervisory roles, as well as serving as training coaches, he said.”
I found an article last night that I can’t seem to find again, that talked about police agencies using rotating shifts back in the day to combat police corruption, and also more recently to aid in community-oriented policing, but it’s now thought that permanent shifts work better for community policing because of the consistency of interaction. Like everything else, law enforcement has trends, and police agencies respond to research. And the research-based trends I found seem to be toward permanent shifts, especially in large police agencies. (And GPD qualifies as large.)
thanks.
Awesome post. Great work on the research.
Thanks, Jim.
That is a great post. Keep up the good work.
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