El Paso, Texas – Three officers have crashed cars and one failed to properly search a suspect. He was accused of sleeping on the job, according to internal affairs documents. Now, it seems that these problems were due to working unbelievably long hours repeatedly.
Working long hours also negatively affects the quality of the work. Officials shouldn’t work more than 12-hour shifts. Officers periodically working long overtime shifts results in car crashes, among other very serious issues.
Officers Working Long Hours is Dangerous for the General Public
According to researchers, officers should never work for more than 12 hours a day. Lois James studied sleep deprivation in policing at Washington State University’s Sleep and Performance Research center .
He believes long hours shift results in poor decision-making and increase the risk of having a car accident.
The fellowship, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Democracy Fund, provides support to journalist to create investigative reporting projects.
Elida Perez mentioned the proven risks of working more than 12 hours, and even those with more than 8 hours. She said allowing that amount of overtime work is very irresponsible.
Karen Amendola believes having a gun and being obliged to protect and serve as an officer has to be done in a way that will not put people at risk. It seems clear that police officers, who have a huge responsibility to their citizens, should be able to safely do their jobs. And working insanely long shifts will definitely impact their ability to keep their people safe.
The review of the time sheets of top 10 earners alone show more than 450 cases in which officers worked more than 12 hours, at least 16 a day in a five-year period.
Allen said the police department now has restrictions to prevent officers from working long hours shifts two days in a row.
