1	Police Fatigue: The Invisible Gorilla in Every Community
2	Invisible gorilla? All across the nation, cops report to work exhausted, and then work long shifts. Fatigue impairs officer performance, safety and health ® endangers officers and their communities Yet very few jurisdictions address this problem Long-term consequences also are dire and expensive Premature death, broken families & broken lives Civil suits, early retirement, high turnover, property damage… Good news = growing interest in police fatigue Bad news = too little data to enable change or feed policy research What we need…?
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7	Police fatalities & lost-work-time injuries
8	Sleep and cognition (Results from 2-3 min. serial addition/subtraction test every 2 hrs.)
9	PET Study of Sleep Deprivation
10	Cops sleep less, drive drowsy 53% of police get less than 6.5 hours of sleep daily Only 30% of general population gets so little sleep 2004 survey of 2,269 U.S. & Canadian officers about on-duty fatigue found: 91% reported being fatigued routinely 85% reported driving while drowsy 39% reported falling asleep at the wheel 75% said more officer education is needed on how to avoid drowsy driving
11	41% of Officers Sleep Poorly (probably >50%)
12	Tired Cops study* 4 agencies, 397 officers, 59,000 potential work days 14% reported always or usually being tired at beginning of their shifts 18% reported having a problem with motivation during the past month 16% reported frequent trouble staying awake while driving, eating, or during social activities Officers routinely exceeded U.S. work-hour standards for power plant operators & truck drivers
13	Key causes of police fatigue Long and irregular work hours due to: Overtime assignments Off-duty court appearances Moonlighting Shift work Job stress Inadequate sleep Scheduling that ignores sleep and circadian issues
14	Port Authority Example
15	Milwaukee OT 2006 overtime increased 23% over 2005 Overtime and compensatory time pay was enough to fill all 227 officer vacancies and also hire an additional 153 officers - including benefits. City audit claimed staffing allocation was inefficient
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17	Short-term impact of fatigue Decreases attentiveness Impairs physical and cognitive functioning Worsens mood Fuels a vicious cycle: Fatigue reduces ability to deal with stress Stress reduces ability to deal with fatigue Stress & fatigue increase vulnerability to disease
18	Fatigue vs. alcohol impairment Laboratory comparisons: Effect of fatigue vs. alcohol on alertness, cognition, motor speed, hand-eye coordination & task accuracy Results: 17 to 19 hours awake equivalent to .05 BAC 24 hours awake equivalent to 0.10% BAC
19	Fatigue management is complex
20	Estimating day sleep opportunities
21	Poor sleep à worse sleep Chronic lack of adequate, good-quality sleep can cause serious, chronic health problems: Cardiovascular disease Gastrointestinal disease Metabolic disorders Mood disorders All degrade sleep quality…
22	Police mortality study results Studies of 2,693 police officers employed by Buffalo, N.Y. PD for 5+ years from 1950-90 Death rates from cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide and diabetes are much higher than in general population Buffalo police retirees died ~7 years earlier than other municipal retirees We’re working out exact causes now…
23	Officer suicide Suicides underreported. Accompanied by depression & suicide ideation BCOPS study: Depression & suicide ideation increased in…* Male officers: as overtime increases Female officers: with more frequent work-schedule changes *n=105 randomly selected BPD officers, stratified by sex, 30F, 45M
24	Police Officer Death Rates 1980-2005
25	FAST analysis? (Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool) Based on DOT & DoD model of railway freight accidents Released in 2006, considered best model In use by military, airlines, & transportation industry Calculates risk as a function of: Time of day Length of shift Consecutive night shifts Prior sleep
26	USDOT-FRA: Validation and Calibration of FAST…,2006
27	A FAST look at police shifts… Assumptions used for analyses Officers work to get regular, sufficient sleep Officers do not have sleep disorders & they get excellent quality sleep Day sleep length limited by time of day Day sleepers use a nap to top off sleep prior to shift No overtime or other work beyond scheduled shift time 1-hr. commute time Caveat: As an occupational group, few police ever meet these ideal-world assumptions
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29	Problem summary Many police officers are overly tired. Fatigue impairs parts of the brain used for: Clear thinking & problem solving Making difficult moral choices Using technology Dealing with people Dealing with stress The right approach to fatigue management can protect both officers and their communities.
30	Data Blues Need data to facilitate research and enable change Most necessary data collected locally, just difficult to gather for analysis Idiosyncratic from department to department Proprietary CAD systems and HR/timekeeping MIS are incompatible But what doesn’t exist also is important Moonlighting hours worked Officer sleep/wake data Commute time/distance
31	Data needed – Staffing Number of sworn officers Responding to calls Administrative, investigative, other duties Staffing rates (positions filled vs allocated) “Abstraction rates” (officers not at regular assignment) Absenteeism rates
32	Data needed – Workload & scheduling Workload: Crime rate by type, seriousness, time of day/week/year Officers per 10,000 population Efficiency Match between demand and staffing across time Master work schedules for departments Shift length Pattern of days on and off Rotation frequency and direction
33	Data needed – Individual level Hours worked (start time, duration) Regular on-duty Overtime on-duty, court time, detail duty Moonlighting Time off Vacation, sick time, occupational injury, admin. leave, discipline, etc. Commute time & distance Actual sleep (preferably from actigraphy)
34	What to do?
35	Actigraphy and sleep scoring
36	WSU Sleep & Performance Research Center Critical Job Tasks Simulation Lab