Shift Work & Criminal Justice Professionals

The vast majority of law enforcement agencies is a 24-hour, 7-day a week operation with police officers working a variety of shifts. A few law enforcement agencies employ the traditional 8-hour shifts while others engage in a 10-hour or 12-hour shift. Police Officers are bound by the 24-hour responsibility to deploy officers to public safety issues. This study was conducted to explore the effects of the 12-hour shift as it pertained to police officers who have worked both the 8-hour and 12-hour shifts. The three major areas of the study were focused on job satisfaction, health issues and social and domestic situations. The practice of public safety involves the deployment of human resources to meet the needs of human beings who have specific needs for service. Such demands for service often involve exigent circumstances, significant stress, and the expectation for clarity of thought when making such decisions of importance. The basis for conducting this study will be to determine the physiological and psychological effects of working the 12-hour shift. The goal of the study will offer tangible options that will assist agencies in determining what particular schedule and type of shifts are appropriate for their community. Such factors to be considered are: size of the community, size of the force, available financial resources, and specific or unusual demands for service within a community. According to the United States Department of Labor, more than 15 million people work a shift other than a regular daytime schedule". Fatigue is defined as extreme tiredness or weariness resulting from physical or mental activity, temporary inability to respond to a situation as a result of overexposure or excessive activity (Cochrane, 2001). Human beings sleep and wake according to biological patterns that evolve over time depending on the demands placed on the body. Shift work can have physiological, psychological and social effects on a person such as stress of shift work, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal to name a few. Violanti (1985) stated that shift work often leads to lack of sleep for officers resulting in lowering their physiological resistance to stress. The population studied were all municipal police officers who work the 12-hour and 8-hour shifts. The sampling frame will consist of the police officers who are currently working either the 8-hour shift or 12-hour shift, in Morris County, New Jersey. Currently there are 1,091 sworn police officers in Morris County, however, only 982 police officers work the 8 or 12-hour shifts meeting the parameters of this study. Extensive research was conducted on shift work. This book is essential if you or your law enforcement agency is considering changing shifts. The findings may surprise you!