Need A New Shift Schedule

[mp1161]

Before I start, I know there are many threads about the same topic, and trust me I have spent nearly an hour searching through this forum and going through a lot of those threads. I have PM'd people on here to elaborate on certain schedules that look appealing, but I haven't found anything quite what could fit my department.

Here is what we currently have.

8.5 Hour Shifts. 4 on 2 off. We rotate between days (0700-1530) and evenings (1500-2330) after every 2 days off, for 3 months, and then we do a month straight of midnights (2330-0700). Needless to say the rotating shifts is not very popular within the department.

I have been tasked with trying to come up with a new schedule. I sent out a survey and an overwhelming majority of officers want to work permanent 10 hour shifts. They wouldn't mind 8 hours; but the must-have change is that the shifts have to be permanent.

We have 24 officers (to include supervisors) who are assigned to patrol. We have four patrol squads with 6 officers each; two of the six being a sergeant and a corporal (both supervisors). I have contemplated the idea of eliminating a squad and beefing up the other 3 squads with more officers to make permanent shifts work. I am just looking for whatever works at this point. Oh, and also we have a 4 officer minimum manpower requirement per shift.

If anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it. Again, the must have is permanent shifts; we would prefer 10 hours but if we can't with the manpower we have, then 8's will be ok. I have explained to our Patrol Lieutenant what officers prefer and he stated that they MIGHT be able to throw a couple of more slots to patrol (maybe 2?) if need be to make a good schedule work so manpower won't be an issue.

While searching on here, I saw a couple of you guys talk about an 11 hour shift, 4 on 4 off. If anyone has any more details on that I think that would appeal as well. Thank in advance.

[Eleven Bravo]

I worked a department that did 12s and everyone loved it. Then I worked a department that did 10s and everyone was begging for 12s. 12s give you a three day weekend every other weekend and you never worked more than three days in a row. It was glorious.

[ftttu]

I worked a department that did 12s and everyone loved it. Then I worked a department that did 10s and everyone was begging for 12s. 12s give you a three day weekend every other weekend and you never worked more than three days in a row. It was glorious.

We recently went to 12s but I don't think I'll like it better than our former 4/10s. 3 days off every week was too good, and with a good shift overlap made for an easy 10 hour day.

[BayouCop]

Love my 12 hour shifts. We rotate, but you wouldn't necessarily have to. We have four platoons (shifts) that are labeled A-D. Here's how a typical month looks for us(Day shift is listed over the night shift).

Week 1:
M T W T F S S
A A B B C C C
C C D D A A A

Week 2:
M T W T F S S
D D A A B B B
B B C C D D D

Week 3:
M T W T F S S
C C D D A A A
A A B B C C C

Week 4:
M T W T F S S
B B A A D D D
D D C C B B B

Every single officer has every other weekend off and has two weeks a month where they can get seven straight days off by taking 24 hours of vacation time (makes it really easy to take vacations.) This schedule does result in each officer making 84 hours every two weeks (which is one pay period for us), but if your agency's budget doesn't allow for more than 80 hours a pay period, you can have officers short shift for four hours per pay period (that's what the local sheriff's office does.)

Personally, I feel like this schedule has the most benefit for the officers (plenty of days off, easy to predict and plan around) and is a very effective way to use your manpower. I know your guys don't want to rotate days and nights, but this schedule can easily be adapted so that two shifts always work days (0600-1800 for us) and two only work nights (1800-0600 for us).

Hope it helps and please feel free to PM if you have any questions.

[Red Swan]

12 are way to go,.. have worked one week work tue/wed, next week, mon/tue/fri/sat/sun.. 6-6, another was 4 on 4 off 6to6, anouther was 2 on 2 off, 5 on 5 off, that was a nice schedule 6 to 6...

[BikeCop501]

I like 12's and 10's. Do a shift bid. If you do 10's you can choose your days off or your shift, but not both. If you do 12's you can choose your shift as days off rotate.

10's you have 2 platoons

Day shift is from 0600-1600
Eve is 1530-0130
Mids is 2030-0630

4 men each shift, 12 men each platoon, you get double coverage during heavy call times, and quad coverage on Mondays (or any day you choose) and Fridays and saturday eves

A is A platoon
B is B platoon
C is both platoons

SMTWTFS
Days BCAAABB
Eves BBAAACB
Mids AAABBBC

[mp1161]

I like 12's and 10's. Do a shift bid. If you do 10's you can choose your days off or your shift, but not both. If you do 12's you can choose your shift as days off rotate.

10's you have 2 platoons

Day shift is from 0600-1600
Eve is 1530-0130
Mids is 2030-0630

4 men each shift, 12 men each platoon, you get double coverage during heavy call times, and quad coverage on Mondays (or any day you choose) and Fridays and saturday eves

A is A platoon
B is B platoon
C is both platoons

SMTWTFS
Days BCAAABB
Eves BBAAACB
Mids AAABBBC

That sounds interesting, however since our minimum manpower is 4, this would leave no room for an officer to take off.



Thanks to everyone who responded...but again, we are not looking to do 12's. There is a lot of secondary employment opportunity which makes it hard taking advantage of that and working 12's. We have already voted on it per se and 12 is the least favorite choice.

[LandGuppy]

When you say permanent, do you mean permanent times or permanent days? You always work midnights or you always have the same days off?

[mp1161]

When you say permanent, do you mean permanent times or permanent days? You always work midnights or you always have the same days off?

Permanent times. The days off is not an issue; I'm referring to working a permanent shift such as days, eves or mids.

[ftttu]

We shift change every 28 days but our 12 hour schedule is good for permanent shifts also. I like it because we don't have to double back like on our 4/10 schedule on shift change weekends.

[BikeCop501]

That sounds interesting, however since our minimum manpower is 4, this would leave no room for an officer to take off.



Thanks to everyone who responded...but again, we are not looking to do 12's. There is a lot of secondary employment opportunity which makes it hard taking advantage of that and working 12's. We have already voted on it per se and 12 is the least favorite choice.

You will never find a shift schedule that will not prevent overtime. Its called hold over or have them take off on the doubled up days.

[jtl323]

I worked a department that did 12s and everyone loved it. Then I worked a department that did 10s and everyone was begging for 12s. 12s give you a three day weekend every other weekend and you never worked more than three days in a row. It was glorious.

I agree. I have worked 8'2, 10's, and 12's. I preferred the 12's. We worked 0530-1730 and 1730-530, and the day schedule was 2 on 2 off, 3 on, every other weekend 3 off. So for example

Week one, work Mon Tues Fr Sat Sun
Week two work Wed Thur

As one suggestion , with a 24 man patrol division , you could run a 4 man 0530-1730 shift , a 4 man 1730-530, and then run a two man overlap shift from 1200-2400, that gives extra help to BOTH shifts during the busiest hours.

[Next3Exits]

We work a Pitman schedule with similar manpower numbers, 4 squads with 2-3 officers and 1 sergeant per squad. The tours are 12 hours, but in the end we get every other weekend off and technically only work half the month. We also rotate between days and nights every other week, but it works with steady shifts as well. A typical 2 week period (Starting on Friday) looks like this:

Off, Off, Off, Work, Work, Off, Off, Work, Work, Work, Off, Off, Work, Work (Start Over). We love it!

We also have a rotating early car that comes in an hour early, and leaves an hour early when the next early car comes in. It helps a little with hold over OT, but we find it more annoying than anything... mostly because if there's no early car following your shift, and you came in early you're stuck for an extra hour regardless. (The OT hogs might love that though )

[tj05]

12 hour shifts are the way to go.

[Indysheriff86]

Love my 12 hour shifts. We rotate, but you wouldn't necessarily have to. We have four platoons (shifts) that are labeled A-D. Here's how a typical month looks for us(Day shift is listed over the night shift).

Week 1:
M T W T F S S
A A B B C C C
C C D D A A A

Week 2:
M T W T F S S
D D A A B B B
B B C C D D D

Week 3:
M T W T F S S
C C D D A A A
A A B B C C C

Week 4:
M T W T F S S
B B A A D D D
D D C C B B B

Every single officer has every other weekend off and has two weeks a month where they can get seven straight days off by taking 24 hours of vacation time (makes it really easy to take vacations.) This schedule does result in each officer making 84 hours every two weeks (which is one pay period for us), but if your agency's budget doesn't allow for more than 80 hours a pay period, you can have officers short shift for four hours per pay period (that's what the local sheriff's office does.)

Personally, I feel like this schedule has the most benefit for the officers (plenty of days off, easy to predict and plan around) and is a very effective way to use your manpower. I know your guys don't want to rotate days and nights, but this schedule can easily be adapted so that two shifts always work days (0600-1800 for us) and two only work nights (1800-0600 for us).

Hope it helps and please feel free to PM if you have any questions.

We use the exact same schedule for years and it helps us maintain better coverage. We have 4 squads with about 5 each on duty per shift. We work in a county that isn't law enforcement friendly from the govt funding side so, short of hiring another 20 to get us to full staffing (not an option here) we run with this schedule. Only tough part is the long 3 day 36 hour weekends. Now add 1-3hrs of overtime and you have a 13-16hr day which is tougher but the 8hr days don't give us the necessary coverage.