(COLUMBIA, MO) -
The Columbia Police Department will move to 12-hour shifts starting September 5, 2021. The change comes as the Department works to increase the number of officers on shifts and available to respond to calls.
Columbia Police Chief Geoff Jones expects the revised schedule to increase officer safety, improve the Department’s ability to provide training and increase opportunities for officers to take time off. Over a two-week period, an officer generally will work 80 scheduled hours, including one eight-hour shift and six 12-hour shifts distributed over the remaining days.
"We’re committed to minimizing the number of consecutive 12-hour shifts an officer will work," Jones said. "That is in the best interest of the officer and the community."
The Department’s Operations/Patrol Division is authorized to employ 88 police officers but, at this time, only 64 officers are available to work. "In addition to predictable vacancies, officers are not available to work for many other legitimate reasons," Jones said.
Those reasons include military deployments, qualifying medical and family health issues, illness and injuries which continue to compound already low staffing numbers. The Department also has experienced several retirements and resignations. Under these conditions, Jones said that the current 10-hour schedule is inefficient.
"Other units in our Investigative Bureau are carrying vacancies in an effort to keep as many officers on Patrol as possible," Jones said. "With low numbers of officers, we experience prolonged wait times for citizens requesting an officer for non-life-threatening calls."
The Department’s 64 officers cover more than 62 square miles, 24 hours per day, seven days a week. "The 12-hour shift allows us to police the way we need to by better supporting the community and reducing wait times," Jones said.
Police agencies across the nation are seeing similar trends. Locally, Jones said that some officers have left the Department for careers in other law enforcement agencies or in totally different fields. Some have moved to other areas where their spouses found new positions. In a few instances, Jones said that officers who left had returned to the Department.
"Policing is a unique profession," Jones said, "and I don’t think compensation is the only driver. The City Council and City Manager have been supportive in incrementally addressing staffing issues, and I appreciate their support."
"We continue to recruit applicants who have high integrity and are community-minded," Jones said. We will do everything we can to support all of our employees and their families."
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