Another police department looks at moving to 12-hour shifts

The Silver Spings (Maryland, USA) police department is considering moving to a 12-hour shift.  The proposed schedule will include some 8-hour days to ensure that there are 80 hours per pay period.  The shift schedule provides for more days off, as 12-hour shifts do.  Initially, the new shift schedule will be used on a pilot basis for 6 months and then be evaluated for further use.  As always, length of shift provide a trade-off between alertness, safety, and performance on one hand and days off on the other.  Twelve-hour shifts have been widely used and proven safe in many circumstances.  Unlike the 24-hour police shift that has been recently proposed elsewhere, the National Shiftwork Information Center does not have undue concerns about a 12-hour shift schedule.

For more information on this, see Police considering longer shifts:Some excited about potential move to 12-hour shifts, others concerned.