U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Fatigue Training Intervention for the Seattle Police Department: Results from a Randomized Control Trial

NCJ Number
309080
Journal
Journal of Experimental Criminology Volume: Online Dated: May 2024
Date Published
May 2024
Annotation

In this paper, researchers evaluate use a randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a fatigue training intervention for the Seattle Police Department.

Abstract

This study was a 3-year experiment to determine the impact of a fatigue training intervention on police employee sleep, mental health, wellbeing, and safety. This study is the first to document the effectiveness of a fatigue training intervention in promoting police employee sleep, mental health, wellbeing, and safety using an RCT design. Implications for the police profession are discussed. Using a randomized control trial (RCT) experimental design, employees from the Seattle Police Department were exposed to a fatigue training intervention. Measurement included wrist actigraphy to objectively measure sleep, as well as a battery of validated surveys to measure sleep quality, sleepiness, depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptomatology. Study results revealed that the training significantly improved employee sleep (+ 18 min per 24-h period) and reduced rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD symptomatology, and likelihood of falling asleep at the wheel. (Published Abstract Provided)

Date Published: May 1, 2024