British Policing and the Ottawa Shift System Easing the Stress of Rotating Shifts.

All emergency services operating on a 24-hour basis have to deal with the issues of shift work and the availability of personnel. The British police forces are no exception. However, recent international comparisons have shown that England and Wales have a worse crime rate than nearly every other major industrialized nation, [1] which has placed additional pressure on police resources. Crime analysts have suggested many ways of reducing crime, including trying to match the demand for police services with police resources by looking at the variations in daily, weekly, or annual crime rates and changing the number of officers on duty accordingly. This approach to reducing crime constitutes one reason for using alternative flexible work practices--such as overlapping shifts, alternative shift patterns, more part-time police officers, and more civilians to carry out administrative and clerical work.

Two other factors affecting police resources involve new legislation that limits the working hours of British and European workers and a move to develop a European flavor in British towns and cities by extending retail outlet operating hours and creating a "24-hour society." These competing pressures have led to changes in the demand for police services and posed problems for some agencies. To combat these difficulties, the British police forces need efficient and effective policing techniques, [2] including the use of shift systems in general and the Canadian shift system, Ottawa, in particular.

POLICING THE 24-HOUR SOCIETY

With the recent development of the 24-hour society in the United Kingdom, some cities have encouraged shops, cinemas, clubs, and bars to substantially lengthen their hours of operation. [3] This has led to a demand for staff to work unusual and, some people consider, unsociable hours. [4] Service and retail establishments have begun to tackle this issue in a variety of ways. However, concerns about changing crime patterns and the subsequent increasing demand for officers have proven challenging to local police forces.

New legislation also has affected how British police must handle the burdens of the 24-hour society. The European Union is implementing a Working Time Directive that will limit the workweek to 48 hours (averaged over 17 weeks). [5] At present, police officers, medical students, and public safety personnel are exempt. However, within the next 2 years, the Working Time Directive will include police officers in the limited workweek, and British police forces will need shift systems that comply with this directive. Therefore, in their current quest to find shift systems that improve officer health and welfare while matching supply for police services with demand, British police forces also must consider systems that will comply with this new legislation or face having to change systems again in the very near future.

EFFECTS OF SHIFT WORK

Research on shift work in other sectors, such as manufacturing and service industries, provides a useful context for the examination of the implementation of the Ottawa system. The issues raised include the effects of shift work on organizations, their employees and families, as well as possible interventions to limit those consequences.

On Attendance

Research evidence on the effects of shift work on absenteeism conflicts. For example, one study revealed that shift workers lost fewer workdays through sickness than personnel who did not work on a rotating schedule. [6] However, another survey found that shift workers suffered greater sickness and absenteeism than normal workers, especially when the hours were long [7] A third report estimated that in U.S. companies alone, shift-work-related costs (e.g., absenteeism, lost production, medical bills, and accidents) totaled approximately $70 billion a year. [8]

Some workers, however, like shift work, and studies have found that less absenteeism occurs with these workers than with employees who work normal business hours. [9] However, one report found that absences increased on shift-change days, [10] which may impact police services because of "quick changeovers" (e.g., completing one shift at 10 p.m. and starting the next the following day at 6 a.m.) that some shift patterns use. All in all, the evidence for a correlation between shift work per se and higher absences from work remains meager and vague. [11]

On Stress

Over the past several years, work, particularly shift work, has become more stressful. [12] This fact, combined with the mixture of boredom and danger inherent in police work, has led to stress and negative effects on marriages and family life for British police officers. [13] At the same time, however, young police officers have highly rated and often preferred the variety that shift work offers. [14]

On Family

Rotating work schedules lead to less time in the family role and result in conflicts between work and family life. [15] Shift workers can become marginalized and isolated from normal community life. Social and domestic difficulties may arise from working shifts due to the disruption of "normal" family life, particularly in young families. Further, shift workers' spouses dislike being left alone at night. Thus, the overlap between work and family issues can lead to domestic problems for British police officers. [16]

On Health

When compared with employees not working shifts, shift workers have more health concerns, increased errors of judgment, and display symptoms similar to those of insomnia. [17] Shift workers complain of difficulties sleeping and loss of appetite and have increased incidences of digestive disorders and ulcers. [18]

Sleep loss, however, stands as the major health problem for shift workers, leading to higher levels of fatigue than in other workers. Some studies have linked continual partial sleep deprivation with increased death and disease. [19] One report found that fatigue proved common among shift workers but appeared to have no effect on mortality, accidents, or long-term health, although gastrointestinal disorders might become exacerbated. [20] Another survey did not agree and suggested that sleep deprivation remains one of the most pervasive and serious health problems in the United States today. [21] This study also referred to previous work that associated accidents, illness, and domestic problems with lack of sleep. [22]

On Circadian Rhythms 

Most bodily systems operate on a cyclic rhythm, which is governed by the day/night sequence of activity and rest. [23] Temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, lung capacity, and other bodily processes follow the day/night cycle, with activity generally higher during the day, reaching a peak in the afternoon or early evening and a trough during the night. [24] Shift work alters sleeping habits, meal times, and elimination processes [25] and may affect productivity and safety, especially on the night shift. Evidence shows that the ability to perform most tasks is lowest during the early hours of the morning. Similarly, performance appears to decline on shifts in excess of 8 hours and where workers perform physically or mentally demanding or repetitive tasks. [26]

POSSIBLE INTERVENTIONS

While some problems related to shift work remain largely a fact of the human condition that no shift system can solve, managers still can take steps to help their employees adjust to a rotating work schedule. For example, because the body clock resists rapid resetting, workers find it easier to go to bed late and get up late than to go to bed early and rise early. [27] Hence, managers should make any shift changes in a clockwise direction to reduce their personnel's risk of fatigue and digestive problems. For example, workers would find it easier to change from day shift to afternoon shift, rather than vice versa. Other interventions include such measures as employing bright-light therapy, selecting personnel based on their suitability for night and shift work, and providing coping strategies. [28]

Managers also should experiment with different shift systems to find the one that works best for their departments. Some systems prove more adaptable to individual agency needs than others. For example, the Ottawa shift system removes the need for quick changeovers and provides longer periods between shift changes. This results in an increase in sleep over the shift cycle together with a significant improvement in employee well-being. [29]

Shift Systems

The British police forces, like industry and commerce in general, use many different continuous shift systems. Other police forces, including those in the United States, have implemented various systems, such as 12-hour fixed shifts (based on working 2 days, having 2 off, then working 3 days) with staggered reporting times. [30] This has advantages for police patrol personnel because they never work more than 3 consecutive days, have 14 days off per month, and only work every other weekend. However, the regulation system, including the regulation system with quick changeovers, and the Ottawa system represent the systems that the British police have examined.

Regulation System

British police designed their original regulation shift system to provide 24-hour police coverage by equitably dividing the workday into three 8-hour shifts (e.g., 6 a.m.-2 p.m., 2 p.m.-l0 p.m., and 10 p.m.-6 a.m.). In this system, 4 duty groups [31] cover a 28-day cycle. These groups work 7 each of day, evening, and night shifts with 7 rest days interspersed to provide breaks between the 3 shifts. When confronted with the lack of personnel due to sickness or holiday absences or an abnormally heavy demand for police services, police forces employ quick changeovers within the regulation system.

However, as early as 1983, police administrators began to question the effectiveness of this system, particularly its ability to match resources with the demand for police services while considering officer welfare. The inability of the regulation system to cope with changes in the police force and increased demands for police services has concerned British police managers for several years. [32] Therefore, they began to examine other shift systems that might address these concerns.

Ottawa Shift System

Originally developed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in 1981, the Ottawa shift system uses 5 duty groups working 3 shifts (a 10-hour day, a 10-hour evening, and an 8 1/2-hour night shift) on a 35-day work pattern. [33] Local agencies can incorporate variations around this basic pattern.

The Ottawa shift system offers a more flexible alternative to the British police regulation shift system because it is based on annualized hours (the number of annual, not weekly or monthly, hours worked) and facilitates variations in the length of shifts. In this way, it allows for overlap periods where two shift groups work simultaneously. The length of these overlaps may vary, and with careful design, the system can increase officer staffing levels to meet peaks in demand on both a daily and weekly basis. Such flexibility has led administrators to regard the Ottawa shift system as well suited for urban British police needs because of such problems as afternoon shoplifting and late-night or weekend public disturbances that place increased demands on police services. Moreover, those working the Ottawa shift system enjoy increased rest days resulting from longer shifts and experience a 6-day break after completing their night-shift rotation.

Initial British police trials of the Ottawa shift system began in 1989. Since then, a number of forces have switched to the system and discovered numerous advantages. [34] These agencies found the system most useful for urban areas, where police can predict and define crime patterns. Also, the overlapping shifts allowed better matching of supply to demand; created flexibility for operations, training, and uninterrupted extended briefings; and encouraged a continuous police presence during shift changes. Additionally, longer shifts allowed more thorough and rapid investigations. Because of a greater number of rest days from working on an annualized hours basis, officer morale, welfare, and social life improved, and fatigue decreased with the removal of rapid shift changeovers and longer rests after working the night shift.

Conversely, agencies also discovered some disadvantages. Primarily, departments experienced difficulty in maintaining minimum staffing levels on any shift because of the five instead of four duty groups and in arranging overlaps between shifts to coincide with the peaks in local established crime patterns. Police forces also found the system unsuitable for rural areas, where crime proves less predictable and less frequent and geographical size creates a barrier to maintaining a police presence. The possible need for increased resources, such as extra police vehicles, during the overlap periods and problems with continuity of investigations caused by the 6 days off after working the night shift constituted additional disadvantages.

A CASE STUDY OF THE SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE 

England and Wales have 43 independent police forces that vary in size. The smallest, the City of London, has 717 officers, while the largest, the Metropolitan Police Force, covers the rest of the Greater London area and has over 28,000 officers.

South Yorkshire consists of four main urban communities: Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, and Barnsley. The South Yorkshire Police (SYP) has 3,071 officers and is divided into 11 districts (A to K) of various geographical sizes with different policing requirements. For example, H District comprises a strictly urban district, whereas J District contains a larger, more rural area covering both residential and small farming communities. Five of these districts have implemented the Ottawa shift system, while the others continue working the regulation or regulation with quick changeovers systems.

In July 1997, the SYP conducted a complete review of the Ottawa shift system. [35] This involved site visits to each district, distribution of a previously piloted questionnaire to 811 uniformed staff working the Ottawa shift system, and visits to three other forces (Avon and Somerset Police, Greater Manchester Police, and West Mid-lands Police) working the Ottawa shift system or other similar alternative shift patterns. Of the 811 officers surveyed, 549 returned their forms, giving a response rate of 68 percent. The review of the Ottawa shift system revealed both positive and negative results.

Overlap Time

Sixty-nine percent of respondents felt that administrators effectively managed the overlap and changeover periods, while 74 percent thought that managers efficiently used the overlap time. Also, 89 percent of respondents thought that for public disturbance cases, the Ottawa shift system matched police resources with demand for police services better than the British police regulation system.

Absenteeism, Morale, and Health

Statistics showed that when compared with districts working the regulation system, most districts using the Ottawa shift system had lower absenteeism from sickness and showed improving trends. According to 80 percent of respondents, their morale and health had improved while working the Ottawa shift system. The reviewers generally attributed this to the reduced fatigue experienced by officers assigned to this shift system.

Supervision and Overtime

Some districts working the regulation system felt that they would need more supervisory staff in order to implement the Ottawa shift system. At the same time, those districts using the Ottawa shift system found that matching staff resources to demand accounted for considerable savings in overtime expenditures. For example, the reviewers estimated that the overlap time for staffing public disturbance patrols in one SYP district alone could result in annual overtime savings of [pounds]38,880, or over $62,000.

Annualized Hours

Under the British system, annual leave and accounting for training hours normally are calculated on a day-for-day basis, not on the number of actual hours used. Therefore, when officers working the Ottawa system use a day of leave, those working 10-hour shifts gain 2 hours over their colleagues working the regulation 8-hour duty. While friction or unrest among officers has not occurred, many thought that this practice was unfair. Additionally, those working the Ottawa shift system have an extra 42 days of annual leave and can create long holidays by combining annual leave with the 6 days off after working the night shift. Many officers saw this as more than adequate entitlement for working a longer shift. While some commanders felt that these benefits were needed, they also thought that calculating annual leave in hours would improve morale, ease staff shortages, and reduce overtime.

Choice of Shift System

Eighty-one percent of respondents had worked all three shift systems in operation at SYP. When asked to state a preference, 91 percent of the respondents chose the Ottawa shift system as their first choice, and 52 percent chose the regulation system without quick changeovers as their second choice. These findings support existing research on the unpopularity of quick-changeover shift systems. [36]

Recommendations

The SYP review recommended that agencies maintain duty group strength (i.e., minimum staffing levels), even at the expense of other sections of police work; calculate annual leave and training in hours; establish a process for reviewing and evaluating shift patterns in comparison with demand; and incorporate time for structured training. The review also recommended that the SYP and the Avon and Somerset Police establish performance measures to monitor the effectiveness of shift patterns rather than rely on aggregated corporate statistics. [37]

The review concluded that while the Ottawa shift system works better in some districts than others, it does have advantages over the regulation shift system. The review suggested that districts already working the Ottawa shift system incorporate the recommended improvements, while those districts wishing to introduce the system include in their pilot programs the review recommendations.

OTTAWA IN OTHER UK FORCES

Two other British police forces, Merseyside and Cheshire, have studied the effects of implementing the Ottawa shift system. Both have found advantages and disadvantages and point out the necessity of experimenting with different shift systems to find one that works for a specific police force. Moreover, the experiences of both forces demonstrate the need to establish performance measures to effectively evaluate shift systems.

Merseyside Police 

Merseyside Police found that the Ottawa shift system largely failed to deliver the staffing flexibility and the decline in absenteeism that they expected. [38] The Avon and Somerset Police experienced similar failures. [39]

After a 2-year study of the Ottawa shift system, the Merseyside review team concluded that more officers were on duty when they were not needed than when they were. The team also found that just as the SYP and Avon and Somerset Police had, the Merseyside Police lacked established performance measures to monitor the effectiveness of shift patterns. Therefore, the inappropriate match between supply and demand and lack of adequate management information caused the review team to look at other shift systems. They identified five alternative shift systems, including one that met the requirements of the European Working Time Directive (a maximum 48-hour workweek with a maximum 8-hour night shift and minimum rest breaks applied between work-days). However, after assessing the systems, the force rejected all of them. The team then devised a new system based on the Ottawa shift system but with the night shift limited to a maximum of 4 nights followed by 3 rest days. The new system also provided adequate coverage at t imes of high demand for police services.

Officers, however, have not supported the new Merseyside shift system. Also, the local Police Federation has indicated that the Ottawa shift system could have worked with increased management support. [40] Merseyside personnel have criticized the new system on the grounds that the 3-day break, which begins after a night shift, is effectively a 2-day break. [41] Additionally, the loss of the 6-day break, which officers approved of in the Ottawa system, could have a bad effect on morale and increase health problems.

Cheshire Police

Cheshire Police (a neighboring force to Merseyside) has taken a different view. The force has implemented the Ottawa shift system (locally known as the "variable" shift system) despite the rural nature of the majority of Cheshire and the presumed unsuitability of the Ottawa system for rural policing. The chief constable felt that all officers in the force should share improvements in morale, health, and social welfare wherever possible. Also, the officers requested the Ottawa shift system after learning about it from their colleagues in the nearby town of Chester.

For 3 years, the Chester Police have used the Ottawa system, altering it to cover peaks and troughs in the demand for officers. The most important variation covered late-night alcohol-related violent crime. In Chester, nightclubs close at 2 a.m. The police, therefore, needed an overlap period that provided additional police resources until 3 a.m. They achieved this by starting and finishing the afternoon shift later on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

The Cheshire Police are using the Chester system as a blueprint for implementing their own Ottawa shift system. In addition, supporting office staff work a complementary shift system to assist in improving service to the public. This approach contrasts markedly with South Yorkshire Police, where such areas as communications use the regulation system, while patrol officers work under the Ottawa system.

CONCLUSION

The effective and efficient use of limited resources stands as one of the most difficult tasks that law enforcement administrators face. Balancing the demand for adequate police presence with the human needs of their officers requires that managers find shift systems that can address both of these issues.

While British police administrators have expended considerable effort to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ottawa shift system and others, they have found little conclusive evidence that one shift system is better than another. Without established performance indicators based on the objectives that managers wish to achieve, it remains difficult to assess the advantages and disadvantages of various shift systems. However, for the present, the fact that officers like the Ottawa shift system, which has improved their morale and decreased their fatigue, and opportunities exist for matching supply to demand indicate that the Ottawa system appears to have advantages over other less flexible shift systems. Perhaps as more agencies use the Ottawa shift system and establish better evaluation methods, the system may prove a viable alternative to the rigid day-, afternoon-, and night-shift rotation. To this end, the law enforcement community should encourage the examination of alternative shift systems no t only to improve police services and the effective use of police resources but also to enhance officer health and well-being.

Dr. Simpson teaches operations management at Sheffield University Management School in Sheffield, England.

Ms. Richbell lectures on human resource management at Sheffield University Management School in Sheffield, England.

Endnotes

(1.) A. Travis, "England and Wales Top Crime League," The Guardian, May 26, 1997, 6 and 16.

(2.) D. B. Walker and M. Richards, "A Service Under Change: Current Issues in Policing in England and Wales," Police Studies: The International Review of Police Development 19, no. 1(1996): 53-73.

(3.) The 24-Hour Society (London: Future Foundation, 1997).

(4.) D. A. Kirby, "Employment in Retailing: Unsociable Hours and Sunday Trading," International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 20, no. 7 (1992): 19-28.

(5.) Working Time Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 1833, 1998; and Council Directive 93/104/EC Concerning Certain Aspects of the Organization of Working Time, Official Journal L 307 (December 13, 1993): 18-24.

(6.) M. Frese and K. Okonek, "Reasons to Leave Shift Work and Psychological and Psychosomatic Complaints of Former Shift Workers," Journal of Applied Psychology 69 (1984): 509-514.

(7.) M.I. Holbrook, M.H. White, and M.J. Hutt, "Increasing Awareness of Sleep Hygiene in Rotating Shift Workers: Arming Law Enforcement Officers Against Impaired Performance," Perceptual and Motor Skills 79 (1994): 520-522.

(8.) R. A. Snyder, "One Man's Time Warp Is Another (Wo)man's Treasure: The Importance of Individual and Situational Differences in Shift Work Tolerance and Satisfaction," Human Resource Development Quarterly 6, no. 4 (Winter 1995): 397-407.

(9.) J. Walker, The Human Aspects of Shift Work (London: Institute of Personnel Management, 1978).

(10.) J. M. Harrington, Shift Work and Health (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1978).

(11.) Ibid.

(12.) Supra note 8.

(13.) R. Graef, Talking Blues--The Police in Their Own Words (Glasgow: Collins Harvill, 1990); and N. Fielding, Joining Forces (London: Routledge Publishing, 1988).

(14.) Supra note 13, Fielding.

(15.) G. L. Staines and J. H. Pleck, "Nonstandard Work Schedules and Family Life," Journal of Applied Psychology 69 (1984): 515-523.

(16.) S. Richbell, The Police Welfare Requirement (London: Central Advisory Facility (PRSU), Home Office, 1991).

(17.) Supra note 7.

(18.) E. Thiis-Evensen, "Shift Work and Health," Industrial Medicine and Surgery XXVII (1958): 493-497; quoted in J.M. Harrington, Shift Work and Health (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1978), 5; and M. Everley, "Shift Work and Health," Health and Safety at Work, September 1992, 40-41.

(19.) Supra note 18, Everley.

(20.) Supra note 10.

(21.) Supra note 8.

(22.) Supra note 8.

(23.) L. Smith, "Beat the Clock," Police Review, November 27, 1998, 16-18.

(24.) Supra notes 9 and 10.

(25.) Supra note 9.

(26.) Supra note 18, Everley.

(27.) Supra notes 7 and 9; and J. Adams, "Shift Patterns and the Body Clock," (Nottinghamshire, UK: Nottinghamshire Police, 1992, unpublished report).

(28.) Supra note 23.

(29.) P. Totterdell and L. Smith, "Ten-Hour Days and Eight-Hour Nights: Can the Ottawa Shift System Reduce the Problems of Shift Work?" Work and Stress 6 (1992): 139-152.

(30.) R. B. Walker and C. Eisenberg, "The 12-Hour Fixed Shift: Measuring Satisfaction," FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, August 1995, 18-20.

(31.) Duty group means a group of officers working as a unit on a specific shift rotation. Some departments may call this group a shift. However, to avoid confusion when discussing shift systems, the authors refer to these officers as duty groups.

(32.) Manpower Effectiveness and Efficiency in the Police Service, Home Office Circular 114, London (1983).

(33.) Supra note 29.

(34.) Touche Ross and Co., "Home Office Study into Effective Shift Systems for the Police Service--Final Report," (London: Home Office, 1992, unpublished report); and S. Richbell, M. Simpson, G.M.H. Sykes, and S. Meegan, "Policing with the Ottawa Shift System: A British Experience," Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management 21, no. 3 (1998): 384-396.

(35.) D. Featherstone, S. Wilkinson, and P. Catley, "Thematic Inspection: OTTAWA," (Sheffield, UK: South Yorkshire Police, July 1997, unpublished report).

(36.) Supra note 9.

(37.) Supra note 35.

(38.) D. Adams, "Clockwise," Police Review, June 26, 1998, 22-24.

(39.) Supra note 35.

(40.) Supra note 38.

(41.) J. Spence, "Take a Break," Police Review, July 17, 1998, 14.