The Negative Effects of Shift Work on Police Officers and Their Families

1806 Words4 Pages

The nature of police work forces officers to respond to calls 24 hours a day 7 day a week; because of this, the majority of 24/7 department officers must work non-standard hours, including weekends, holidays, evenings and nights; this is commonly referred to as shift work. The prolonged exposure to working these non-standard hours has significant detrimental effects on the mental and physical health of the police officer. These effects are thus filtered down and may cause conflict in their relationships with their significant others and other family members, with officer divorce rates averaging between 66% and 75%, they are the second highest divorce demographic almost doubling the national average (McCoy & Aamodt, 2009). This paper explores the specific physiological effects of shift work on the worker and its secondary effects on their families.
Perrucci, MacDermid, King, Tang, Brimeyer, Ramadoss, Kiser, and Swanberg (2007) conducted a review of current literature on the shift workers physical health, mental well-being and family life. They defined shift work as employment during non-standard hours outside the typical business hours of 8 A.M. to 5 P.M, Monday through Friday, including standard or rotating shift schedules. Their research indicates a majority of the workers that operate during these alternative shifts do so because they are forced to via the nature of their job; incidentally more than half of all shift workers fall into the category of protective services, including police. Data obtained from 2,400 non-standard shift workers reported that they suffered physiological symptoms at a higher rate than their standard hour counterparts with elevated instances of digestive problems, chest pains, the onset of illness, a...

... middle of paper ...

...89). A Compressed Shift Schedule: Dealing with Some of the Problems of Shift Work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 10(3), 231-245.
McCoy, S. P., & Aamodt, M. G. (2010). A Comparison of Law Enforcement Divorce Rates with Those of Other Occupations. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 25(1), 1-16.
Perrucci, R., MacDermid, S., King, E., Tang, C., Brimeyer, T., Ramadoss, K., et al. (2007). The Significance of Shift Work: Current Status and Future Directions. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 28(4), 600-617.
Tuttle, R., & Garr, M. (2012). Shift Work and Work to Family Fit: Does Schedule Control Matter? Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 33(3), 261-271.
Vila, B., Morrison, G. B., & Kenney, D. J. (2002). Improving Shift Schedule and Work-Hour Policies and Practices to Increase Police Officer Performance, Health, and Safety. Police Quarterly, 5(1), 4-24.

Show More
Related

  • Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gilmartin, K. M. Emotional survival for law enforcement, a guide for officers and their families. 1st ed. Arizona: E-S Press, 2002.

    Read More

  • Millennial Generation Rhetorical Analysis

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,

    Read More

  • Nurse Fatigue Case Study

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 2011 The Joint Commission called attention to healthcare worker fatigue and the impact it was having on patient safety. They found a direct link between healthcare worker fatigue and adverse events. They recommended healthcare facilities assessed their policies to identify fatigue-related risks, such as off-shift hours and consecutive shift work, and review their staffing to address areas that may be contributing to nurse fatigue (Martin, 2015).

    Read More

  • The Implact of Working 8 vs. 12 Hour Shifts on Fatigue Among Nurses

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... social life issues. Supporting to these Todd et al. (1993) demonstrated that nurses with 8 hour shifts had a high level of satisfaction than nurses worked for 12 hour shifts. However, contradictory results were found in Stone et al.(2006) study. They reported a significant level of nurse’s satisfaction was revealed with 12-hour shifts than those with 8-hour shifts. Furthermore, in 1996 Golec et al. carried out a study to compare the effect of 8 and 12 hour shifts among ICU nurses. The finding revealed that the nurses with 12-hour shifts demonstrate less social and family disruption than 8-hour shifts. Nevertheless, 12-hour shifts reported more health, and wellbeing complains s than 8-hour shifts. In addition, the study indicated that although 12-hour shifts provide more days off, it appears to be insufficient to dispel the adverse effects on health and wellbeing.

    Read More

  • Police Suicide Research Paper

    1887 Words  | 4 Pages

    the psychological health of police, fire, and ambulance officers.” International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 11, pp. 227-44.

    Read More

  • Police Stress Research Paper

    1400 Words  | 3 Pages

    The law enforcement officers suffer quite more job-associated stress than the people living in the community. Many have had to realize that the nature of the profession itself may be exposing officers to the increased levels of stressors. In essence, job-associated stress is among the major health concerns of the law enforcement community, and this is because it can have some impact on the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the officers. The difference in the stressors between the law enforcement personnel and other individuals is the fact that, the enforcement officials get to interact with the human population that are quite angry, upset or even uncooperative, in which case it takes some toll on

    Read More

  • The Law Enforcement Profession

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    (Swanson, Territo and Taylor, p. 2). However, in recent years some major changes have occurred in a shorter time period. Innovations in law enforcement During the past two decades, I have observed major changes in the viewpoint of society towards police officer's as the symbol of trust and dignity, the technological advances of communication and information systems in law enforcement, and the revision of selection and hiring practices for police officers. Organizational change occurs both as a result of internal and external agents (Swanson, Territo and Taylor, p. 664).

    Read More

  • Houston Police Power Shift

    476 Words  | 1 Pages

    There has been many controversies in many patrol stations here at the Houston Police Department regarding a 10 hours shift called “power shift”. When I first start off my career as a patrolman, I had the opportunity to either choose an 8 hour or 10 hour shift. The difference between those two shifts are the days off. For instance, an officer who works an 8 hour shift will have a two days weekend, and officers who works a 10 hour shift will have a three day weekend. Some supervisors believe having power shifts is an advantage because it overlaps all three shifts (e.g. days, evenings, nights), in terms of relieving officers during shift change. Some officers hate getting dispatched to a late call especially when their shift ends in about 15 minutes. Power shift officers will pick up the slack and relief 8 hour shift officers so they can end their tour of duty. Power shifts will also save divisions money.

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence: Wronful Arrests

    1898 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gover, A. R., D. Pudrzynska Paul, and M. Dodge. "Law Enforcement Officers' Attitudes About Domestic Violence." Violence Against Women 17.5 (2011): 619-36. Print.

    Read More

  • American Workaholics

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    The effects on individuals has thus far revealed only part of the whole picture. When focus is shifted to workers with family situations, reports are revealing that time constraints are also connected to the shared working time between parents in households, with dual-earner based households and single parents meeting intensified challenges. Among these parents, women are even today continuing to take on the biggest share of family based responsibility and caretaking. This is thus making women workers, or single fathers, feel even more pressure than their workforce counterparts who have no children. The separation between workers who have no children and mothers or fathers with caretaking responsibilities has led to yet another growing divide that demands a change in policy that will address the specific conditions of workers and their families.

    Read More

  • Shift In Nursing Essay

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    Notably, having higher proportions of nurses working shorter shifts—8–9 hours or 10–11 hours—resulted in decreases in patient dissatisfaction” (Stimpfel et al.). This is essentially saying that the longer the shift length, the more negative outcomes result. This study proves that eight to nine-hour shifts are more effective, and should, in turn, be worked more than longer shifts. This is a problem because hospitals are likely to continue to schedule nurses for twelve hours shifts out of

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence In Police Homes

    1418 Words  | 3 Pages

    The International Chiefs of Police (IACP) states that the rate of domestic violence among law enforcement is at least as common as that of the general population (IACP Model Policy). Some studies show a higher incidence of domestic violence among law enforcement professionals than in the general population. Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families have experienced domestic violence. A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24%, indicating that domestic violence may be two to four times more common among law enforcement families than families in general (Nedig, 1992). It is also important to remember that when law enforcement officers abuse, they do so in ways similar to those abusers in the general population. However, officers who commit domestic violence often also distort their skills and use authority as part of their abusive behavior. Each abuser is different and uses different tactics. What is essential to remember is that an abuser – officer or civilian – will always focus on using whatever ...

    Read More

  • Women and Engineering

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    Presser, Harriet B. “Job, Family, and Gender: Determinants of Nonstandard Work Schedules Among Employed Americans in 1991.” Demography 32 (4): 577–598. JSTORhost. Web. May 19, 2013

    Read More

  • Mothers in the Workforce

    1603 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abendroth, A., van, d. L., & Maas, I. (2012). Social support and the working hours of employed

    Read More

  • Police Officer´s Responsibilities

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you decide to become a Police officer you must be available for shift work at any time of day and any day of the week, including holidays. Some Shifts can be longer than the standard eight-hour office day. The routine of the job can also be dangerous, as well as physically and e...

    Read More

More about The Negative Effects of Shift Work on Police Officers and Their Families

Open Document