Do police work weekends?

Most ordinary police work to a shift pattern. If it was their shift, they'd have to work - date or no date. If they had booked leave in advance then they'd only have to work in exceptional circumstances. I don't know any detectives, to ask what percentage of time they work outside normal office hours but they'd have to work the standard number of hours and do them as the case required it. If they worked an evening, they might well get time off another day to make up for this.

High ranking officers would be more likely to work regular office hours.

You could go to your local station and ask for more info. I've done that before and they've been helpful.

My father was a homocide and robbery detective for fifteen years. He worked the swing shift,4pm to 12am monday through friday. He sometimes had to work overtime on his shift if a homocide or robbery occurred later in his shift. I dont recall him working too many weekends over the 25 years he was a cop. The time he took off from work was his regular vacation times and when my mom was having a baby or something like that. There were times when he had dental emergencies that caused him to miss a day or two of work and Im sure there were a few times he had eye problems (couldnt see going to work that day) but for the most part his time off was scheduled in advance. Hope this helps.

yer pal Brian

My brother was a police officer in the UK. He was a dog handler and sharp shooter. He was often called out, mostly in the middle of the night, when they needed an officer allowed/licenced to carry a gun.

Here is a link that you may find interesting

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos160.htm

Just for example...our sheriff department works a 4 on 4 off 12 hour/day schedule. That's for Sgts and road deputies. The administration (Lt, Undersheriff and Sheriff) and detectives work M-F 8a-4p. Detectives get called out when needed. We also call the administration when certain things happen (big crimes like homicides, aggravated assaults, rapes, car chases) just to advise them or ask questions. Detectives get called at home fairly often too, just to answer questions or make decisions about how to handle a complaint.

But we're a pretty small department, so the bigger the department and the more violent crime that is committed on a regular basis, the longer hours the detective bureau will work.

Carmy said:

My brother was a police officer in the UK. He was a dog handler and sharp shooter. He was often called out, mostly in the middle of the night, when they needed an officer allowed/licenced to carry a gun.

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Hahahaha
Hahahahaha
Sorry. I still can't get over the whole "even cops can't carry guns" thing. Isn't there a Monty Python skit about that? Where the cop intervenes to stop a criminal and says, "Stop! Or I'll... I'll say 'stop' again!"

LOL True, UK cops don't normally carry guns, but some are trained to use them and the guns come out under certain circumstances -- usually when the criminal has a gun. Must be a bit of a shock to some of them, when the cop fires back.

Carmy said:

LOL True, UK cops don't normally carry guns, but some are trained to use them and the guns come out under certain circumstances -- usually when the criminal has a gun. Must be a bit of a shock to some of them, when the cop fires back.

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Like this example http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6996687.stm

FashionQueen said:

Okay, I know certain police officers have to work on weekends, otherwise there would be a whole lot of crimes on weekends. But, what about detectives working on homicides? Would weekends be mandatory, or a "if your not too busy could you come into work" thing?

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Yes. They'd get called out for that. The detectives that work my department generally work M-F (except our narcotics officers) but when a major crime happens, they do get the callout.

FashionQueen said:

Also, is there any way to get out of it? If they had a family wedding in a different country, they probably wouldn't be expected to work. But, are their any other reasons, like does having a date with a guy in another country count? And would a detective get the afernoon of to pick their kids up from school if no one else could?

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In the 'wedding' example above, they'd have prearranged that vacation time so another detective would be covering the shifts for 'callout' as it were. That's not a problem. As for the 'date' scenario - that would depend on whether or not the detective is on call. If she were on call, then she'd be expected to show up when she got the call. Even if she went to another country for the date!

As for picking the kids up from school...workshifts are actually very flexible, so they could pick up the kids and take them home if they had to do so. But generally this is a rare, special occassion thing. The larger problem here would be having kids in the department vehicle. Having any unknown civilians in the vehicle for personal reasons is generally not done due to the liability and risk factor involved.

FashionQueen said:

Also, is working late nights mandatory? I'm pretty sure it isn't (unless your on the night shift), but just to check.

Thanks in advance.

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Depends on what their normal shift is. Our detectives generally don't work nights unless there is a major incident. Except, again, our narcotics and special investigation detectives.

Rabe...

Robert Toy said:

Here is a link that you may find interesting

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos160.htm

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Digging this thread up. Does anyone know a site similiar, but specifically related to the NYPD? I have visited the NYPD site, but didn't find anything this extensive.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/home.shtml

If you go there, they have non-emergency numbers. Or you can white page the address, and that'll give you a number for the department. (or should.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_Department

also, in case you need the basic shizz