Shift Schedule Case Studies
The Arlington County (Virginia) Police Department has a 28-day cycle in which officers
work 10.5 hours a day. Officers work five days on/four days off, five days on/four days off,
and finally five days on/five days off. This pattern results in officers not having the same
days off every week but rather having a rotation.
The Roanoke County (Virginia) Police Department designed a shift schedule to meet
their officers’ needs. Day-shift officers work shifts of 8.5 hours, 5 days a week; those on
the evening and midnight shifts work 10 hours for 4 days. Younger officers tend to be
assigned to the evening and midnight shifts, but the department attempts to offer
everyone the opportunity to change shifts approximately twice a year. Officers work the
same shift for six months at a time, which provides consistency and helps officers
acclimate to their schedules. In addition, the department allows teams of officers to
arrange their own schedules within their assigned shifts for each 20-day period.*
_______________________
* The Workforce Crisis, and What Police Agencies Are Doing About It (Washington, DC: Police Executive
Research Forum, 2019), https://www.policeforum.org/assets/WorkforceCrisis.pdf.
Address comprehensive wellness
The physical and mental health and safety of police officers is directly tied to recruitment and retention. Without adequate
support, daily stresses and repeated exposure to traumatic events can have lasting negative impacts on officers. The alarming
rate of officer suicides—45 percent higher than the general population in 2021—highlights the need for wellness programs
that extend beyond tactical and physical fitness to mental, psychological, and emotional health.
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Wellness programs should be developed and expanded to go beyond addressing physical health; they should incorporate mental and emo-
tional well-being.
Historically, law enforcement health and wellness programs focused almost exclusively on physical health. However, more and
more agencies are losing officers to burnout, suicide, and other mental health issues.
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Therefore, agencies should develop com-
prehensive wellness programs that incorporate aspects of mental and emotional health and well-being, including access to
13. According to First H.E.L.P., an organization that tracks law enforcement and first responder suicides, 143 officers died by suicide in 2021. First
H.E.L.P., “The Numbers,” accessed July 21, 2023, https://bluehelp.org/the-numbers/. When measured against the total number of law enforcement
officers (with power of arrest) in 2021 (n=712,112), this equates to 20.5 suicide deaths per 100,000 of the law enforcement population. U.S. Census
Bureau, “National Police Week: May 14–20, 2023,” last modified August 16, 2023, h
ttps://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/police-week.html. By
comparison, in 2021, 14.1 per 100,000 of the general population died by suicide. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), “Suicide Data and
Statistics,” last modified August 10, 2023, https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/suicide-data-statistics.html.
14. For example, see USDOJ reports in response to Executive Order 14074 “Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to
Enhance Public
Trust and Public Safety,” The White House, May 25, 2022,
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-
actions/2022/05/25/executive-order-on-advancing-effective-accountable-policing-and-criminal-justice-practices-to-enhance-public-trust-and-
public-safety/: Department of
Justice Report on Best Practices to
Address
Law Enforcement Officer
Wellness
(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice,
2023), https://www.justice.gov/olp/executive-order-14074-reports; Department of Justice Recommendations Regarding the Prevention of Death by
Suicide of Law Enforcement (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2023), h
ttps://www.justice.gov/olp/executive-order-14074-reports.
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