Evaluating the Effects of Fatigue on Police Patrol Officers. Final Report

摘要

Police accidents, injuries, and misconduct extract heavy human and economic costs. Empirical research and practical experience indicate that fatigue associated with the pattern and length of work hours contribute to these problems. Fatigue arising from sleep loss, circadian disruption, and other factors worsens mood and may be expected to increase the probability that officers will be involved in official misconduct. At the same time, it worsens relations with their co-workers, their families, and the communities they serve. Fatigue also increases the probability that police officers will be involved in accidents that put themselves and their communities at risk due to decreased alertness and impaired performance. With the exception of research on shift rotation and moonlighting, little attention has been paid to the ways that police officers hours of work affect their performance. Perhaps as a result, many law enforcement agencies fail to limit hours of work. Although the work hours of many other occupational groups are regulated to protect worker and public safety, double and triple work shifts are common in police agencies, with some officers working well over 1,000 hours of overtime a year.