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Fatigue

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Lack of Sleep - Police

New Study: Officer Fatigue Raises Likelihood of Citizen Complaints

Fatigue and sleepiness on the job significantly raise the odds of officers drawing citizen complaints during their shift, according to a newly published study by a team of sleep specialists. Their first-of-its-kind analysis finds that public complaints are roughly seven times more likely to occur on shifts with a traditionally high probability of officer tiredness—primarily,...
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New Study Links Fatigue, Police Racial Bias

Police officers show significantly greater evidence of unconscious racial bias when they’re fatigued, according to a newly reported study by a researcher at Washington State U. in Spokane. “When officers received less sleep preceding each test session, they were significantly more likely to associate Black Americans with weapons compared with when they had received more...
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Nevada Department Blesses Napping On Duty With Special Program

Napping while on the clock has long been a taboo in policing, fraught with fears of embarrassing photos of officers dozing in squad cars going viral and angry citizens denouncing “lazy cops” for shirking their tax-paid duties. But now under the name “Restorative Rest,” a department in Nevada has officially endorsed the practice with what...
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New Study: Sleep Loss Impairs Critical Police-Type Decision-Making

In “fast-paced situations with uncertain outcomes and imperfect information,” good decision-making is “significantly hampered” by sleep deprivation, according to a new study by researchers from Washington State University and the University of Melbourne, Australia. Police officers, soldiers, disaster management personnel, and other emergency responders whose lives–and the lives of others–may depend on their ability to...
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New Study Confirms Health & Safety Dangers Of LEO’s Poor Sleep

Union reps, trainers, and human behavior experts who have been campaigning to get police fatigue recognized and addressed as a critical professional and public safety problem have been given an armory of ammunition for their battle by a comprehensive and complex new study of cops and sleeping disorders. A team of 13 sleep specialists, headed...
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Anti-Fatigue Measures Could Cut Cop Deaths 15%

A leading sleep researcher argues that officer deaths from vehicle accidents and violent attacks could be cut by at least 15%—“a pretty darned conservative estimate”—if the problem of police fatigue was seriously addressed. As it is, he claims, a toxic mix of poor personal habits and arbitrary agency policies is creating a “large pool of...
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Unique New Force Science Study Tests Officers’ Endurance In Fights

A Force Science research team recently conducted unique tests with police volunteers to determine how long officers can typically endure in all-out fights with suspects and how a desperate struggle can affect memory. The results are expected to have important legal implications regarding the use of force. Administered under the guidance of Dr. Bill Lewinski,...
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The Fatigue Threshold…An Officer’s Worst Nightmare

After nearly 3 decades in law enforcement, Jeffry Johnson still remembers vividly a “hellacious” physical fight for his life as a young cop. “I was called to a scene where a guy was banging on his girlfriend’s door, trying to break in,” he told Force Science News recently. “He was BIG…and on PCP. Six of...
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Midnight Shift And Health Risks: New Study Tells Sobering Truths

Officers who predominately work midnights are at greater risk of developing severe health problems than civilians and other cops, especially if they average more than about 90 minutes of overtime per week and have trouble sleeping. This is established in a new study by an 8-member team of health experts, headed by Dr. John Violanti,...
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