4-10

Posted By: Blue

So I knew that the city I live and work in had a good police service when I applied.  I just don't think I realized how good I would really have it if I did get on.

We were told the first few weeks to hold our heads high, as we were amongst the few and proud.  At first I thought it was mostly rhetoric and, dare I say... propaganda?  But as the weeks have rolled on and we have had instructor after instructor praising our service, I am definitely getting the opinion that there was never a need for the Brass to lecture our staff about promoting morale by towing the party line.  These cops really do love their jobs and their city.  They love their pay and their vacation time.  They love the fact that we are one of the only cities in North America with a mandatory 2 officers per car.

Our standard shifts are the "4-10" shift (basically supposed to work-out to four ten-hour shifts per seven calendar days).  We rotate with one stretch of days, then evenings, then nights. We have the opportunity to work 5 on, 4 off, with one overlap day per rotation.  That means that every fifth day, there are twice as many cops on duty as any other day.  It gives us the opportunity to do fun stuff like help the detectives, or jump into plain clothes and do vice, or work in stolen autos.  The list is endless.  If you really want, you can use the fifth day to finish paperwork or just take it off with banked overtime. 

And don't get me started on overtime!  Man, there are times when we are going to court and sitting for twenty minutes, only to hear the case has been plead, or that we will not be needed.  That means, if we are there on a scheduled day-off, we are entitled to 10 hours of time in-lieu-of, plus 15 hours of pay.

To boot, we have 3 weeks of paid leave to start (and it quickly builds with years-on), plus every time we work a stat holiday, we get another day in-lieu-of.  Then there's actually sick time.  Three weeks of it per year accumulative.  Man, when I was in construction, I would go into work puking just so I wouldn't miss a day's pay.  Talk about an upgrade.

Now I'm interested as to what kind of scheduing everyone else does?  Care to share?  For instance, the firefighters and paramedics in our city have a 4 on, 4 off split shift (12 hours/shift).  They are currently thinking about going to a 24 hour shift, then 2 days off, then another 24 hour shift, then 5 off (I think that's how it goes...).