Impact of long work hours on police officers and the communities they serve.
BACKGROUND
Police officers in the United States often are overly fatigued because of long and erratic work hours, shift work, and insufficient sleep. These factors likely contribute to elevated levels of morbidity and mortality, psychological disorders, and family dysfunction observed among police. Fatigue-related impairments to officer performance and decision making can generate unexpected social and economic costs.


METHODS
Information was gathered from the literature and analysis of government data as well as meetings with sleep researchers, police executives, and union officials in order to understand the causes and consequences of police long work hours.


CONCLUSIONS
Long work hours and shift work threaten police officer health, safety, and performance. This situation is aggravated by understaffing associated with demographic shifts and new threats to homeland security. Ongoing research suggests that the police may be a useful model occupational group for basic and applied research on sleep, fatigue, and human performance.
Vila
Bryan
B
Criminal Justice Program and Sleep and Performance Research Center, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington 99210-1495, USA. vila@wsu.edu
D000368:Aged; D003625:Data Collection; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D016495:Police / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016526:Workload