12 hour shifts for large Sheriff Agencies

[tripleb298]

I currently work for a sheriff agency. We have tremendous staffing problems because the schedule is all jacked up and we have road patrol deputies who work Midnights, consistently getting ordered over to the dayshift and handling details such as Court Security and Court Transport. Quite honestly it is ridiculous.

Their has been discussion of our jail and road patrol deputies switching to 12 hour shifts. I am even looking at possibly designing a model schedule to do this.

Anyone aware of any large sheriff agencies (100+ personnel) that utilize 12 hour shifts? Please share any success/horror stories regarding 12 hour shifts. Currently road patrol deputies and corrections officers in our facility work 8 hour shifts on a 28 day schedule with rotating days off each week (1 weekend off). Each shift besides road patrol contracted deputies has a fill in deputies that handle all positions needed and not filled in both the jail, road, hospital guard and court services.

Thanks,

[Bill]

In NJ we have several agencies that work 12 hour shifts. They work 3on 3off or what we call the PITTMAN schedule, it's 3on 2off, 2on 3off with every other weekend off.

[CFPython]

We're a sheriff's office with 500 sworn, but don't have the jail to deal with. Patrol, K-9, Aviation and dispatch have worked twelves since before I came here in '92. We used to work 2 on 2 off, now were on the 3-2-2-3 with every other weekend off. Most of the people are satisfied with it, and it gives everyone great opportunities for overtime. The other units, Civil, Court Security, Investigations, etc, work either 5 eights or 4 tens.

[Rita]

Our jail and 911 Center work the 2 on 2 off 3 on 2 off 2 on 3 off so it works out you have every other weekend off. Our patrol works a 12 hours shift that gives them 7 days off each month. I personally hate that schedule but if your interested pm me with your e-mail address because it's kinda long and complicated to write down.

[sixpanel]

http://officer.proteus.com/forums/s...&threadid=24224

[RabbitMPD]

sixpanel: dead link.

I used to work the 12 hour shifts, 3 on & 2 off, then 2 on & 3 off, with every other weekend off. Now I'm on 8 and really miss the 12's. It all depends on the individual. My life style works really well with the 12 hour shifts. 8 isn't THAT bad, just prefer the 12's.

[sixpanel]

Hmm, weird. Let me try again:

http://officer.proteus.com/forums/sh...threadid=24224

We work 12's (3-2-2-3-2-2). We only work 14 days of every 28 day cycle. It's great!

[jakflak]

Our department used 12 hour shifts until very recently. We worked 3 days on with 4 days off, then the next week we worked 4 days on with 3 days off. It was a great schedule; it allowed you to get a lot done. They were some long shifts, but the weekends made it worth it.

[tripleb298]

Did you still have ample overtime opportunities? We have a ton of OT in our place, and I know that this is a major concern for our members?

[Bill]

NJ Work schedule

Another good schedule we have in NJ is the 4on 4off. Hours range from 9-11 hours depending on the PBA contract they have with the town. We even have one town that has a 5on 5off schedule. I think the 4x4 is the best choice and it's fair for everyone.

[Deputy Joe]

I worked on a smaller department with 16 officers that worked 4 on, 4 off, 12 hour shifts.

It seemed like 2 different departments. You never saw the other guys that worked the other days. We typically never knew what happened on our days off.

The problem with 12 hour shifts is that it gets to be really long if you get extended, have court, training or something to do at home the next day. When you wake up in the morning or afternoon you know your day belongs to the department.

If I had a choice, 10 hour shifts would be as long as I would go.

[CFPython]

Originally posted by Deputy Joe
It seemed like 2 different departments. You never saw the other guys that worked the other days. We typically never knew what happened on our days off.

That's a great point. I've found that to be true also.

[KenW.]

We're on the twelves in patrol and corrections. It's very well accepted. Courts have to match the court schedule for security and bailiff work, even though state and county holidays aren't necesarily the same. Detectives and Civil can make their own schedule, within reason.

[swatbwana]

300 sworn on twelves for patrol and detention.
guys love it and would not change.

[Runnin' 87]

Our patrol guys work a 12 hour shift. Includes one week off per month. The 12 hour rotation "builds in" four hours overtime per our two week ay period. (80 hrs) Officers take what we call a "short day" which is coming in four hours late or leave four hours early.

It makes for some tough scheduling sometimes but we manage to stay within our minimum staffing requirments.

My wife has high jacked my 2005 schedules. I had four of them around here highlighted. Give me a holler if you want a copy. I will get one to you.

A month will go like this. We start on a Monday:

O O O O O O O - N N N N - O O O - D D D - O - N N N - O O O - D D D

D --- Then it starts over. Shifts are 6-6. Four shifts.

Our investigators still work day 8's as does office and management staff. As with most poice work. There is lots of staying over and odd late hours for everybody though.

The problems with court and training are stll there. The rest of the world still works straight days. Adjusting out for training gets to be a problem with training on days being usually 8 or 9 hours. If you are salaried I guess it is not an issue. You just work. We are "hourly" here based on a two week/80 hour pay period.

Lets see how this posts. Well it didn't. Tried to put M,T, W, ... over the O, N, Ds. Didn't fly.