12 Hour Patrol Shifts

[FPD_Officer]

We are looking for any data/info from any agency who's patrol officers work 12 hour shifts. Currently, we are on 5/8 hr. shifts but are researching 12 hour shifts. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

B.Ure

[9-11]

My advice is to consider 10 hr shifts. I worked 12 hr shifts with a PD and it is just too long. You are exhausted near the end of the shift but still have to respond to high risk incidents, drive a cruiser, search suspects, arrest etc. One mistake and you know the potential outcome. Add a couple of hours of OT which happens frequently, and your officers will be crashing their private vehicles on the drive home. I have worked 10 hr shifts for a few years now and they are perfect.

[Plaso]

I agree with Skippy. At one time we had some 12 hour overlap shifts in patrol and I worked them. If you catch a late report then with your overtime you end up working 14-15 hours. If you work a busy department it is just too long. Our jail works 12's but you don't have the activity level you have on the street. We work a 4-10 and that is a good number of hour for a shift. When busy you go home tired but not like the longer 12 hour days.

[shooter1201]

My PD has recently gone to 10-hour shifts from 8-hour shifts, previously.

0600-1400
1400-0200
2100-0700

*4 on/3 off*

I've managed to work several 13 hour shifts this summer. The first 8 hours was the 'roughest', IMO.

<small>[ 08-16-2002, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: shooter1201 ]</small>

[SCSOsgt.]

I work 3 12's one week, 3 12's and an 8 the next:

WEEK 1 WEEk 2

MON- off MON- off
TUE- off TUE- off
WED- 7p-7a WED- 7p-7a
THU- 7p-7a THU- 7p-7a
FRI- 7p-7a FRI- 7p-7a
SAT- off SAT- 9p-5a
SUN- off SUN- off

Basically, you get a 4 day weekend every other week.

[p01ic3m4n]

we're moving to 12s in september. 3 on, 3 off, 2 on, 2 off with an 8 hour shift once a week. fortunately for me, i'm on the only 10 hour shift...my days off don't change; saturday, sunday and monday.

[SGT Dave]

I like them-wouldn't trade them for the time off we get.

Ours (and this is my favorite schedule):

Based on a 14 day cycle...
MON WORK
TUE WORK
WED OFF
THUR OFF
FRI WORK
SAT WORK
SUN WORK

MON OFF
TUE OFF
WED WORK
THU WORK
FRI OFF
SAT OFF
SUN OFF

NOTE:
*Never work more than three in a row
*Always off at least two in a row
*Off every other weekend FRIDAY, Saturday and Sunday
*If you work a certain day THIS week, your OFF that same day next week
*by taking just 2 days comp (on the "short" week) you are off for a whole week WITHOUT USING VACATION. We often take a week off about every two months, again, without using ANY VACATION.

Again, I love them and wouldn't trade them. I agree you are more tired, but just be aware of that, and plan accordingly. Also, my belief is that once I'm uniformed up, geared up, and (maybe most importantly-psyched up) for duty, why NOT work a few extra hours each day and have more days TOTALLY off to unwind and do family things?

NOTE: On this schedule, I only work 14 days a month. You will still build comp time, and between comp, and vacation, I work LESS than half the days a year. Does that not sound like a good thing?

I couldn't imagaine going back to 5 or 6 in a row-aaaaggghhhh!

Also there are ancillary considerations that management should not overlook, that are OFTEN overlooked:

*Are they going to pay you OT or award comp for the four extra hours per cycle?
*Will your WT and flashlight batteries last 12 after being conditioned for 8 or 12?
*Will they award holiday pay at 12 or 8 hours per holiday worked? (It seems fair to me that if we work 12 we ought to get 12, but in every department I've worked, the other departments-finance, administrative, public works, etc-bitch because we got more than them. Never mind that they only WORK 8, they complain that it is unfair, so in everyone, we get 8 hrs' holiday pay for working 12.
*How much closer will they be to MANDATORY time and a half due to FLSA?

Hope this helps...

<small>[ 08-16-2002, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: SGT Dave ]</small>

[R.White]

Many of the PD's and SO's in Florida have gone to 12 hr shifts and officers generally seem to like it. We implemented in my last dept. (Sebastian, FL PD, 34 officers)about 4 yrs ago and it works same as SCSOsgt's, above; 3 days on one week (36hrs)followed by 4 days off, then 3 days on plus a "short day" (8hrs) the second week (44 hrs) followed by 3 days off, to total 80 hrs for the 14 day pay period. Shift Sgt. decides whether officer on short day either comes in 4hrs late or gets off 4 hrs early. Officers have had the option to change every year since its implementation, and have always voted to keep this shift routine. My oldest son works for the Jacksonville SO (1400+ officers) and they too are on 12 hr shifts. Their rotation scheme is 5 days on then 5 days off and he loves it. I think its all what you get used to. :) RW

[Taterhead]

We work 12 hrs shifts 4 days on,4 days off. I like it.
The jail personnel work a shift like SGT Dave's
With my schedule if you were to take 4 days off you would be off for 12 straight days. Not a bad little vacation.

[H8Criminals]

I like the extra days off working the 3/12. My schedule is as follows:
week 1
Sun - 12
Mon - 12
Tue - 8
Wed - off
thu - off
fri - off
sat - 12
week 2
sun - 12
Mon - 12
tue - off
wed - off
thu - off
fri - off
sat - 12

There's rumor that I may be going back to a 4/10 ... I think the 3/12 is great except for one major thing ... I can never get everything done I need to at work, since I work weekends, and I spend more time trying to catch up on what has been happening while I was away for 4 days. This week, I took 36 hours leave, yet I've had 10 days off ... can't beat that.