By Maggie Trovato
Capital Gazette
Earlier this year, the Anne Arundel County Police Department rolled out a new patrol shift schedule requiring officers to work longer hours for fewer days in a row. The move, they said, would benefit officers, giving them a better work-life balance.
Three months into this change, the department and the police union say it’s too soon to tell whether the new schedule is making a significant positive impact.
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While the new shift schedule can offer more continuity in investigations, reduce the need for overtime, and help with recruitment, research suggests it can also lead to fatigue and reduced alertness.
Tyrone Powers, an adjunct professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Bowie State University, said that when agencies consider changing shift schedules, they are often balancing considerations about personnel shortages, what’s most efficient for the department, and officer fatigue.
Powers, a former FBI special agent and former Maryland State Police trooper, said policing is the only profession in the U.S. where you can “legally remove another human being from existence,” depending on the situation.
“And so [police agencies] have to be very careful that [their officers are] at their best because you’re investing so much authority in them.”
The change
For 45 years, the Anne Arundel County Police Department offered a six-and-three rotation, which means that officers worked 8.5-hour shifts for six days in a row. Those six days were followed by three days off.
On Jan. 15 , the department began its 12-hour patrol shift schedule, which is a 14-day cycle that requires officers to work two or three days in a row and then gives them two or three days off.
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In a news release issued in January, the department said the new schedule reduces the number of officer workdays per year from 243 to 182 or 183. This schedule model also gives officers every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, the release said.
“To have a full weekend with your loved ones, you can’t put a value on that,” said Marc Limansky, a spokesperson for the department.
Justin Mulcahy, another spokesperson for the department, said the change to the patrol shift schedule was made with officer wellness in mind. He said it addresses quality of life by giving officers more time to enjoy with loved ones and to rest and recover.
Heather Pfeifer, the University of Baltimore School of Criminal Justice executive director and a professor, said there are plenty of benefits that come with the 12-hour shift schedule, including a better work-life balance.
But, she said, agencies with 12-hour patrol shifts need to have additional support for officers in order to reduce the risk of error that could come with fatigue.
“When you have individuals in high-stress situations, and you’re having them stay on for 12 hours, [they] are going to hit a tipping point, usually around 10 hours,” she said. “This is where you get acute fatigue.”
According to research from the National Policing Institute, which compared eight-,10- and 12-hour shifts in two police departments, officers working 12-hour shifts reported “greater fatigue and lower alertness on duty.”
Pfeifer said it’s important that officers are trained to recognize the signs of fatigue, which can affect their cognitive and physical capabilities. She said it’s also important that when an officer becomes fatigued, a department has protocols in place, such as giving them administrative tasks rather than sending them out on a call.
Anne Arundel County Police Maj. Tim Schultz said the 12-hour shifts allow the department to have more officers working at one time. He said this makes it possible to give officers time to take breaks if they’re feeling fatigued.
Schultz said the department has “serenity rooms” where officers can take a break and decompress during their shift.
Powers said that in a situation where an officer receives a call at the end of their shift and there is no one to relieve them of duty, the eight-hour shift is better.
“That way if something comes up and they have to work over, they’re still not there for 12, 14, 16 hours,” he said.
Schultz said that with more people working at one time, overtime has gone down at the Anne Arundel County Police Department.
But it’s too soon to say whether the new shift schedule has truly lessened overtime, he said, adding that with “vacation season” coming and more officers taking time off, things could change.
Part of a larger shift
Pfeifer said that in the past three or four years, she’s noticed more police agencies across the country move to 10- and 12-hour shifts.
When George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis Police officer in 2020, it spurred a nationwide “crisis” in law enforcement that left departments with fewer officers and fewer recruits, she said.
To address this crisis, Pfeifer said, more agencies have shifted to the longer shift model. She said these schedules are “more appealing” to the younger generation, who value having more of a work-life balance.
O’Brien Atkinson, president of the union representing Anne Arundel officers, said that although the police department advertised the change in shift length as an effort to address officer wellness, the move was also made to address staffing.
“The reality is, the officers are working more hours,” he said.
Mulcahy said the department started looking into making this change two years ago after identifying “critical staffing needs.” He said the department is examining the “broader impact” of this new shift schedule, including how it affects the agency and the community.
According to the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s staffing records, obtained via the Maryland Public Information Act, in March, the department had 28 of its 811 sworn officer positions vacant. Two years ago, in March 2024, the department had 41 of its 808 sworn officer positions vacant.
Mulcahy said the department’s recruiter has noticed more interest from prospective officers since the department went to a 12-hour patrol shift schedule. He said people like the idea of getting every other weekend off and not working more than three days in a row.
Atkinson said that before the new shift schedule began, the union polled its officers and found that they were “split down the middle” on how they felt about the new schedule. He said younger officers were more supportive of the idea, while seasoned veterans were against it.
Atkinson said that, anecdotally, there’s still a split. This time, however, the split is between those who work the day shift and those who work the night shift, he said.
“To be up for 12 hours during those midnight hours and early morning hours is really draining on the officers,” he said, adding that those officers often must appear in court the next morning for their cases.
Schultz said the department is working with the courts to ensure officers don’t exceed 16 hours of work in a day. “That’s been a very good conversation, and the courts have been very open,” he said.
The department plans to take additional surveys to better understand what is working and what isn’t. Atkinson said the union hasn’t done a “formal poll” since the shift change took effect.
Schultz said that having only started the new shifts in January, they’re still gauging sentiment from officers.
“[It] will probably be a few years before we determine whether or not it’s really making that impact,” he said.
Do you think 12-hour patrol shifts improve officer wellness, or do they create new risks?
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