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Police Operations and Data Analysis Report, Morgan Hill, California
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TABLE 3-3: 4-10/3-12 Work Plan
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
12-hour
12-hour
12-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
(patrol)
12-hour
(training)
12-hour
12-hour
12-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
12-hour
12-hour
12-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
10-hour
(training)
12-hour
(patrol)
12-hour
12-hour
12-hour
Additional personnel resources would be required to implement this plan. In order to maintain
minimum staffing levels under this plan, the MHPD estimates that three additional officers would
be needed. Furthermore, there are operational inefficiencies that would be generated when using
three 10-hour shifts on the Sunday through Wednesday side of the plan. With three 10-hour shifts
each day, there will be six extra hours of patrol coverage. Scheduling these six hours each day leads
to inefficiency. CPSM’s experience in this area indicates that when departments utilize a two-hour
overlap, as would be one option with the three 10-hour shifts, the two-hour overlap is wasted. Once
the subsequent shift appears for duty, the on-duty shift has a tendency to withdraw from patrol and
gravitate towards administrative work. This minimizes the added benefit of the overlapped shift.
Maximizing the overlap by scheduling the full six hours at the most needed times of the day often
results in undesirable start and end times. For example, taking into account the department’s
workload figures that we’ve calculated, the most critical six hours of overlap time for the MHPD
would be between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. This would result in shifts beginning at
11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 1:00 a.m., which are clearly not desirable shift times for the officers.
Thus, considering the additional resources needed and the potential loss of efficiency, it is not
recommended that the MHPD adopt the 10-hour shift plan. This recommendation applies to the use
of the 10-hour shift in any of its manifestations, whether it is implemented on only one side of the
week or for the entire schedule. A shift plan needs to first and foremost address the operational
needs of the department as presented by workload demands. Based on the workload information as
depicted in Figures 3-1 through 3-8, it appears that the MHPD’s 12-hour plan does an adequate job
providing the manpower when needed. This is illustrated most noticeably by the saturation index
(Figures 3-2, 3-4, 3-6, and 3-8), where the ratio of personnel and workload is presented. These
figures illustrate a fairly steady line, which indicates a steady and consistent balance of personnel
and workload. With the exception of the early morning hours during winter weekdays when the
saturation index drops off sharply (this signifies higher levels of staffing with low levels of work). In
addition, the saturation index trend line in these figures is within acceptable bounds. While there