The three-day LAPD workweek
The so-called 3/12 schedule also provides one major benefit -- just one -- to the entire department: It's a terrific recruiting tool. Many smaller departments in the area trumpet it as a reason to sign on: The "3/12 work schedule means approximately 208 . . . days off per year," advertises the Inglewood Police Department. By contrast, most employees putting in standard 40-hour weeks have 137 days off. Police Chief William J. Bratton, who neither supports nor opposes the schedule, allows that it has enabled the LAPD to better compete for police candidates.
So it's good for officers and good enough for the chief, but that leaves out one other group. The residents of Los Angeles are being cheated by this police perk.
Because of the short workweek, the city has paid millions in overtime that it otherwise wouldn't have. It also has fewer cops patrolling the streets than if they worked a four-day week, as is far more standard for large urban police departments. Last fall, a city study found that response times are longer, and certain neighborhoods have so small a patrol presence that they could be designated police-free zones. Now, in an excruciatingly tight budget year, the city is projecting a $16-million deficit for the department, a chunk of which is overtime the city must pay officers when they're on call to appear in court on their days off.
Officers counter that crime in Los Angeles is down by double digits, and that alone should prove the policy's effectiveness. It doesn't. We accept Bratton's conclusion that a significant portion of the decline is the result of police action, but the 3/12 schedule takes officers off the street. That works against crime reduction, not for it.
The Honolulu Police Department, which instituted the three-day week in 2000, reverted to a five-day week last year after determining that the abbreviated schedule resulted in exhausted officers, poor continuity of criminal investigations and weaker community relations. Crime dropped by 9% last year, and Honolulu remains the safest major city in the country.
If this subject weren't such political dynamite, 3/12 already would have been done away with here as well. Bratton won't say it, so we will: Abolish 3/12.
9 comments:
I have mixed emotions about the 12-hour schedule. It should be proposed to the full membership for a vote.
In regards to your other thread. I hope that SS bill makes it through. It is only fair.
"lefty"
Hey man what's up?
Heard you were the driver for the new super. Is that true?
"lefty"
Please pardon the above post.
I should have realized you are already in line for Opening Day at Wrigley Field.
Go Sox!!
"lefty"
Hey Shadi!!
Looks like your Cubbies are starting out okay. What have you been to already? Six or seven games?
"lefty"
Hey Shadi!!
Post something new!!!
lerftisthebest
Where you been Shadi?!
"lefty"
Shadi, who has the follow-up on your missing persons report? Post something!
"leftisthebest"
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"leftisthebest"
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