Detective Work in the precinct at night

[ancilla89]

Would a detective (who normally works days) be allowed to go down to his precinct in the middle of the night and work on cold cases or go through surveillance for his current case?

[CCCSD]

Sure. Even better if he isn’t putting in for OT. I’ve done it. Better time to work as the day admin isn’t around, nor all the pesky cops and phone calls interrupting you.

Just make sure he writes up a follow up or whatever you’re using to show he did some work.

[BNWS]

Yes, but all the off duty detectives doing a turnaround in the dorm will not like you. Also as an old timer taught me, never do police work when you could be doing something else. That goes double if your not being paid.

[Ratatatat]

I worked with a guy assigned to day shift who had insomnia and would frequently be at his desk at 2am. At first management tried to put the kaboosh on his night owling but he dropped so much paper on people, they quickly gave up. He was total proof that if you're a producer, different rules apply.

[ancilla89]

So he did paperwork on those late nights?

[Ratatatat]

Reports, affidavits for warrants, misc admin stuff, and emails. I'd get up and check my phone in the mornings and there'd be emails he sent at 3am.

[Kraut0783]

I've done it just to catch up on paperwork, the one thing you never really see in cop shows....the amount of paperwork that has to be done.

[not.in.MY.town]

Would a detective (who normally works days) be allowed to go down to his precinct in the middle of the night and work on cold cases or go through surveillance for his current case?

It's not an issue as long as he's sober when he arrives...and sober when he leaves. (Yes, there's a story behind that).

[ancilla89]

It's not an issue as long as he's sober when he arrives...and sober when he leaves. (Yes, there's a story behind that).

So...what's the story?

[RJflyer]

I've done it. I had a solid boss who didn't micromanage schedules in the office, so long as you put in your 40 hours/week. Coming in for extra hours required approval though, since that money came out of the department-wide OT budget. I always preferred working on days when it was only me and maybe one other guy in the office. It cut down on distractions and let me get alot more done. I never really had a desire to go in during the middle of the night though. Weekends/holidays would be more likely.

[not.in.MY.town]

So...what's the story?

I'd rather not go into details in order to protect the guilty.

Let's just say that a detective may or may not have been sipping something other than coffee from his Dunkin cup while catching up on paperwork.

Suspicions were raised when a taxi driver complained about a passenger who had vomited in the backseat...and (inadvertently) flashed his badge while fumbling for change.

[ancilla89]

O dear. Whoops.

[just joe]

Sure, but it depends. Is your detective on the clock? Is he being productive, or just generating overtime? Why is he working cases not assigned to him? Does he have physical access to cold case files? Cold cases may very well be in a bankers box in the basement of the records section.

[ancilla89]

He's being productive; most of the time, he's working on current cases.