NCJ Number
88719
Date Published
1983
Length
228 pages
Annotation
Police can effectively manage work schedules by understanding their purposes, forms, and use. This report uses the findings from a survey of 200 police departments, personal interviews, and an extensive literature review to examine ways in which work schedules may enhance or hinder management objectives, agency operations, and individual officer performance, and to suggest effective scheduling techniques.
Abstract
It is often not recognized how many aspects of department operations are influenced by or related to the work schedule. Designing effective work schedules involves taking into account necessary staffing levels and shift rotation needs, efficient resource use, and personal issues, such as stress and schedule equity. Incompatible management and personnel objectives can preclude the possibility of finding a schedule to meet all objectives. Every work schedule represents a compromise between an array of objectives (usually divided into management and personnel issues) and an understanding of the relationships among them. This report discusses the types of schedules used by virtually all police agencies in the United States and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of each. It examines the management of schedule change in terms of key participants and implementation planning. Administration of all forms of planned and unplanned time off is reviewed, and specific examples of relevant departmental policies and procedures illustrate alternative schedules. The appendixes contain a glossary, sample schedules, a list of police agencies participating in the study, and responses to the mail survey. An annotated bibliography of 46 works is also appended.