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Thread: 12 hour Panama shift being proposed at work.

  1. #1

    12 hour Panama shift being proposed at work.

    And to say it's causing a hornet's nest of backlash is putting it mildly.

    So if anyone has any experience with this sort of shift, pros and cons, I'd appreciate some feedback. Either openly or PMs.

    It's basically working 12s with some sort of two on two off two on three off (I can provide an overview if needed) and switching from days to nights each month. Meaning, one month I'd be 0700-1900 and then the next month 1900-0700.

    I've yet to find anyone here (about 400 sworn) that is for it due to sleep interruptions, child care issues, vacation planning, commuting time to work, etc. Basically, old and young cop alike are against this from the feedback I have received locally as well as other sources. Even very high up's in the Chain of command have come to me asking me to submit something up the chain in writing as I have a history of doing that and having some effectiveness in those endeavors.

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Member Peally's Avatar
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    Mar 2014
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    Not LEO but I've had past experience having to switch between working 3rd/1st and it's a pain in the ass both physically and life wise. I would be seriously surprised if anyone pipped up in favor of it.
    Semper Gumby, Always Flexible

  3. #3
    My agency does 12 hour shifts with the same days off rotation for patrol. They don't alternate monthly though. Shift assignments are for one year at a time. It makes it a lot easier to get used to the sleep schedule and plan things such as childcare and vacations out. Alternating monthly would be rough. It takes about a week to adjust to the new sleep cycle after moving from nights to days or vice versa. The positives of 12 hour shifts were mostly related to days off. If you chose not to work overtime or outside job details, you'd only have to work half of your week. If you liked to soak up OT, you'd have a lot of free days to choose from for extra duty. You also got a three day weekend every other week. The rough part about the shifts is that I always found it tough to stay as switched on for 12 straight hours as I could for 8-9.

    Is it the alternating months that your people are pushing back against, the 12-hour shifts, or a combination of the two?

  4. #4
    Site Supporter tanner's Avatar
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    How could anyone have a life outside of work?

    Can't be in a bowling league, can't take classes... Pretty much can't do anything else on a fixed schedule ever.

  5. #5
    Member John Hearne's Avatar
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    Mar 2011
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    Northern Mississippi
    Just from an officer fatigue standpoint, switching every month is asinine. You need a minimum of six weeks to adjust to a shift in work schedule like that. If they want to rotate, I'd do it every four months. That's enough to get adjusted and the same group doesn't get stuck work day shifts during the summer every year.
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  6. #6
    Member
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    May 2016
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    Dallas
    IME it takes officers about 8-12 weeks to fully adjust to night shift, and 3-4 weeks to adjust to a day shift from night shift. I think monthly rotations will have everyone in a constant state of sleep deprivations. Combine that with twelves and you better have slush fund for payouts on car wrecks and other sleep deprived bad decisions.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4629843/
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  7. #7
    Okay, so it's not just me.

    I feared that having 20 years in, Saturday Sundays off, with a 0600-1400 shift was clouding my judgement on the matter.

    Is there no advantage to this? I've even been told that it increases overtime budgets due to a built in four hours OT for each officer per payday.....not even counting court appearances and training. Supposedly there are huge jumps in absenteeism, use of force complaints, crashes, etc that other agencies have experienced.

    Keep the responses coming.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by DanM View Post
    My agency does 12 hour shifts with the same days off rotation for patrol. They don't alternate monthly though. Shift assignments are for one year at a time. It makes it a lot easier to get used to the sleep schedule and plan things such as childcare and vacations out. Alternating monthly would be rough. It takes about a week to adjust to the new sleep cycle after moving from nights to days or vice versa. The positives of 12 hour shifts were mostly related to days off. If you chose not to work overtime or outside job details, you'd only have to work half of your week. If you liked to soak up OT, you'd have a lot of free days to choose from for extra duty. You also got a three day weekend every other week. The rough part about the shifts is that I always found it tough to stay as switched on for 12 straight hours as I could for 8-9.

    Is it the alternating months that your people are pushing back against, the 12-hour shifts, or a combination of the two?
    Well, this is very fresh but yes, it's the one month on nights one month on days that is causing the most uproar.

    We have many single parents (cause we have a 90 percent divorce rate here) and child care issues as well as going to college to get the degree to advance here (required for Sgt and above) is a huge issue. That is for the younger crowd.

    For guys like me pushing 50 years of age, the reality of having to lose sleep in addition to all the other ailments is enormous. Overall I am in good health and I'd like to keep it that way. I have no qualms admitting that rotating sleep like that will only add to my physical decline.

    The final destruction of senority is also an issue. It's really all patrol has left.

    I figured some of the younger crowd would be all about working them some days but all of them say they have no desire to come work when the "brass" and traffic is out. And I remember uttering the same words when I was on nights.

    I have, best I can tell, a month to formulate a written COC letter expressing my concerns from a health, officer safety, and department liability standpoint. So keep it coming.
    Last edited by lwt16; 01-24-2018 at 10:31 AM.

  9. #9
    Member
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    Oct 2013
    Location
    East Greenwich, RI
    LSP patrol folks have worked this for years, and mostly love it. Essentially, you are working half the month. If you have overtime available, such as federal grants for DWI, seatbelt enforcement, etc, you probably have more opportunity to work them due to the additional days off.

    I was in Patrol prior to this shift, so I’ve never actually worked it. But, my buddies typically love it for the additional days off.

  10. #10
    If the 12 hour shifts are there to stay, try to articulate the sleep deprivation, officer health consequences and financial liability issues that will come from alternating day/night shift every month. It's really not bad if you stay on your shift for 4-6 months before having to alternate. If you barely have time to get used to the sleep schedule before you swap again, it's going to lead to the problems others have already mentioned.

    One way to keep seniority benefits in place is how my agency does shift changes. At the end of the year, shift bids open. Everyone ranks their preference for the available shifts from most to least preferred. If more officers bid a shift than there are spots available, seniority kicks in and the most senior officers get the shift.

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