Job sharing in Policing

For most police departments the thought of have part time cops or job sharing in policing is simply unacceptable. Having officers on the street that work less than half of a year (including holidays and sick time) and still maintain a sharp investigative or emergency response edge, to them, is without a doubt impossible. Or is it?

As with most professions, we in law enforcement have to change with the times. In Canada and the United States we are presently stuck in a hiring crunch. With all of the baby boomers retiring we are competing with other organizations and other police agencies for those employable people in our community who may want to be police officers. It is becoming a generational need. The cream of the crop gets watered down as we struggle to hire qualified people while we watch our experience and expertise walk out the door with our older officers who are looking to improve their quality of life with their family. We could stand there and stomp our feet and say those officers, be it men or women, are not loyal or dedicated and that "FINE - don't let the door hit you on the way out!" But really folks, with nothing left in the hiring pool to fill their boots, perhaps we should be looking for alternatives to keep our experienced staff in our organizations?

I'm not going to lie to you. Most of the officers who will take you up on job sharing or "Flexible Employment Opportunities" will likely be women and it will likely be for family reasons. Is family not a good enough reason? Look around at who you arrest. Why are you arresting them? Haven't they got a family who will discipline them or keep an eye on them? Aha... my point exactly.

Ok, let's say for interest sake, you are open-minded about job sharing. Let's explore what it looks like to be a "family friendly employer". Let's see what flexible policing provides your organization:

• Assists in retaining existing workforce
• Efficiently uses skilled staff members instead of losing them
• Having experienced workers rather than constantly having to train a replacement
• Encourages female officers to return to work after maternity leave

Studies in New Zealand indicated that other benefits to the police organization are happier employees who are keen to work; they have less stress, increased motivation and get through a lot of work because they know their time is limited. They also provide a more quality output because they don't feel the accumulating stress others do in the field and they do not have the family stress of being away from home that often compounds stress when on shift. The downside? Maintaining training can be an issue or at the very least the trust from other members that the part time officer is "battle ready". With a part time employee you are always short half a position or, in the case of job sharing, you could be down an entire officer if the department does not hire to replace that second person. Also, part time employees would not be available for special operations and court commitments could be a nightmare.

This same New Zealand study found that it wasn't only women that were applying for the flexible positions. In fact there were a variety of reasons why this type of arrangement was attractive to the employee. Of the male employees one was a high profile triathelete, one was getting a post-secondary degree, and one was assisting in a family business. For women both the family commitment and study purposes were popular. In many of these cases the officers would have quit policing to make these commitments. With flexible employment they are able to do both.