Question about Working hours...

[Christophur]

Hey, I'm currently looking into becoming a police officer. I will have a bachelors degree, and no past criminal record. The main thing I'm worried about though, is whether or not I will have enough time to hang out with friends, family, and get married. I've heard everything from Cops have long, hard hours with little rest time to most cops only work 3 days a week. Can I get any more reliable answers here? Thanks!
(BTW this is in either Ohio or West Virginia.)

[Kimble]

Cops typically work 8-12 hour shifts with the occasional mandatory overtime. Other than that, they have off days just like any other job, are allowed to go home (or wherever they wish) after their shift is over instead of having to live and sleep at the department, and have discretion on what overtime they want to volunteer for outside of anything that's mandatory.

In a nut shell, if you want to make this job your entire existence you can do so (and some do). If you want to have a life outside of your job, plenty of us do just that. That's what being an adult is all about, you make your life choices.

[tcop733]

Your shift and days off vary with every department.
Kimble's right; you'll have time to have a life outside of law enforcement. Rookies sometimes have trouble finding that balance, come to think of it so do some veterans.

[Aussie George]

Here in Oz our shifts vary. I have worked in depts that have 12 hour shifts (2 day shifts, 2 nights, then 4 days off) and I have worked (as I do now) in 8 hour shifts that vary. I would take the 12 hours any day.

My roster as of tomorrow (monday) is as follows:

Mon - 8a - 4p
Tues - 2p - 10p (on call overnight)
Wed - 4p - 12mn (on call again)
Thurs - 10a - 6p
Fri - 8a - 4p
Sat - 6a - 2p
Sun - 7a - 3p
Mon/Tues/Wed - days off.

And so on. It is all over the place with short changes between shifts (ten hours) and is really tiring. It is not unusual to do 8 or 9 days on then have a few days off. While it might sound nice to get a four day break in a fortnight, the reality is that I still work a 40 hour (minimum) week and that still means ten other days have to be worked in that fortnight. So to get a 4 day break I do ten days straight. It sucks.

The other thing with shift work I find annoying is when my days off are weekdays, all my non-cop friends (which is most of them) are working and you can guarantee that if someone is having some sort of celebration it will be on a Friday or Saturday night when you are working.

Also don't ever expect to get new Years Eve or Christmas off (you might strike it lucky, but don't expect it). Holidays and weekends will no longer mean what they used to.

Having said that, if it is what you want, then you make it work. It's a good job. Best of luck with what you decide.

[Gutwrench]

As everyone has said, it will depend on your dept. We worked 12 hr shifts, three days one week and four days the next. I tried to always work graves (6 pm to 6 am) because I loved the work after dark and the absence of the admin. The downside is that I was in court one to three times a week which is a killer.

I agree with other who talk about balance, but once you get get off FTO there's a good chance you'll be assigned to graves or swings and juggling court so you won't have a great deal of free time. Good luck.

[greg72982]

As was said hours can vary greatly. As the new guy you can count on working weekends and holidays and any other crap shift no one wants. I won't even get into my schedule because I am a part-time officer at two departments, and would most likely be the exception and not the rule regarding scheduling. I fill in the gaps more or less. Here in PA we are considered the necessary evil.

Sometimes the full time guys will go ten days straight after two days off before they get another due to the pay period. Sometimes the days off are staggered. If this is a big deal to you I suggest you seek another type of employment. The trend I see from new guys these days is they want banker's hours.

[Safety Steve]

We work up to ten days straight down here between days off. Due to the Christmas Holidays this year, I will lose days off this year requiring me to work 16 days straight before getting time off. Thats just how the ball bounces! Somebody has to keep the roads safe.


Be Safe.

[retdetsgt]

We work a regular 5 day week, seniority dictates shift and days off. It will be one of the night shifts (likely swing) and you can count on midweek days off for the first several years. At some point you can get Sunday-Monday off and then with some real time, you can get Friday-Saturday. Uniform people rarely get both weekend days off by consensus so that more can have at least one day of it.

Court OT isn't a huge thing here unless you work traffic division. Otherwise, you will be in court once or twice within a two week period. If it's OT, you get paid a minimum of 4 OT (6 straight time) hours even if you show up and only spend 15 minutes. A lot depends on what part of the city you work, some are busy where you make a lot of arrests, other areas are kind of sleepy and not much happens.

There generally isn't much operational OT unless the unwashed are coming out to demonstrate against something that might interfere with their welfare payments. Once in a while you'll get stuck with a late call, but not often. There's always a push by the administration to keep OT down as much as possible.

I liked the action on swing shift, but it kept me away from my family too much. During the school year, I didn't see my kids for at least three days a week and never had a full day off with them when I had mid week days off. I worked graveyard so I would have at least evenings after they came home from school.

[bluelightzgrl]

I've worked 12s, 2 days on, 2 days off. Every other weekend was a 3-day. This was worked on a 8 week rotation, 6am-6pm, then rotate to 6pm-6am.

I've also worked 8s, 5 days on 2 days off. This ran 3 shifts: days (7a-3p), swings (3-11p) and mids (11p-7a). I've worked all three. Some are easier than others. When I say this, easier on the body (sleep) and the outside life. You learn to adjust.

Now, I'm happily working M-F and pretty much 8:30a-5p.

[Switchback]

I am with Blue, normally working M-F, with some semblance of banker's hours. That's the life of a fed.

With that said, I frequently handle stuff on weekends and at nights... started 2 days last week at 3:30-4am. I have done MANY special assignments where I worked a month straight of 12 hour days with no days off.

[bluelightzgrl]

I have done MANY special assignments where I worked a month straight of 12 hour days with no days off.

You should specifiy that your job is not the norm; not even in our agency.

[Switchback]

LOL

It's true. I've rarely been accused of being "normal". Also, that month-long stuff is not as likely these days. FWIW, that would routinely occur during protection details, long before my SOG days. We've had SOG missions that go MONTHS with no days off.

[greg72982]

I despise mornings. If i get up anytime before 11am I feel like crap all day long. I wouldnt want steady daylight even if it was available. I feel like a zombie when I have court.

[Buffboy]

There are many variations. Mine is a little different from the norm. I'm "on call" when I'm working, I get paid for 8 hours for every 24 I'm on call. I'm seldom on call for less than 12 hours and 24 is usually the norm. I have to have quick access to my patrol vehicle while on call but otherwise can do mostly what I want as long as I'm available for phone dispatch, so some days I run some traffic, make sure my reports are up to date, answer the phone and not much else. Unless the Sheriff has something he wants me to do specifically, of course, then I do that. Usually it's all very fluid and self starting.

I was on call from Thursday night(5pm, the time I got off my other job) till Monday morning (8am, went back to my other job) this last stretch. It was a little busy, I got about 10 hours of sleep until last night. I got in at 10:30pm Sunday and got a glorious 6 hours last night. Then again, there are some days I don't even have to start the vehicle, luck of the draw. I have it easy, I only work 8 "days" a month for the SO, and the sheriff has the rest of the month.

I've done some regular shift work filling in for other neighboring departments that were short staffed because of circumstance and actually prefer my current situation.