NIJ's Role in Preventing Officer Fatigue
NIJ funds a number of research projects that work to prevent and eliminate officer fatigue:
Testing the Effectiveness of a Comprehensive Police Fatigue Management Program
Brigham and Women's Hospital
2004-FS-BX-0001
This project is testing the effectiveness of a comprehensive police fatigue management program and surveying police across the nation on their health and safety. The results will help establish national fatigue-management guidelines for law enforcement agencies.
Prospective Study of Traumatic Stress in Police Officers
University of California in San Francisco
2004-FS-R-100
This study tests police academy recruits for risk factors and resilience to traumatic stress symptoms and general psychiatric distress in the first two years of police service.
Police Fatigue: Physiological, Psychological, Family and Operational Outcomes
SUNY in Buffalo
2004-FS-R-097
A study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health examined the link between stress and negative health consequences in an investigation of 700 Buffalo police officers. A new study will examine how officer work hours, sleep quality and circadian disruption affect their health and safety.
A National Assessment of the Risks and Benefits of Shift Practices and Related Policies in Law Enforcement: Impact on Officer and Organizational Performance
The Police Foundation
2005-FS-BX-0057
This study will examine how police department scheduling practices can be altered to more effectively manage shift work and nonstandard schedules. Researchers will determine whether variable shift lengths affect police health, safety, performance and quality of life. Police can use this information to create lower risk scheduling policies that better manage officers' health.
Shifts, Extended Work Hours and Fatigue: An Assessment of Health and Personal Risks for Police Officers
SUNY in Buffalo
2005-FS-BX-0004
Researchers will examine how the work and overtime hours officers accrue over the course of their career can lead to adverse outcomes, including errors, accidents, stress, disease, depression, and death. They will examine the entire Buffalo police department and a cohort of Buffalo officers employed between 1950 and 2004.