Anaheim May Extend Patrol Officer Shifts : Budgeting: The 12-hour, three-day-a-week schedules would be in lieu of hiring more personnel, a union official says.

Lean budget times have city officials considering a plan that would keep police patrol officers on the streets 12 hours a day on three-day workweeks.

City Manager James Ruth said Wednesday that the proposal has been under study for about three months as budget shortfalls have restricted the hiring of additional officers.

“Stress is a major concern and fatigue is a major concern,” Ruth said, “but on paper, it really looks good.”

The city manager said Anaheim has contacted other municipal departments that have adopted similar schedules and have found “very few negatives.”

But Anaheim Police Officers Assn. president Joe Bryan said the proposal represented only a “very, very small Band-Aid” and should not be approved in place of a commitment to hire at least 50 more patrol officers whom he said the department needs.

“We’ve said all along that we need between 50 and 100 more cops,” Bryan said. “But there ain’t nobody giving that much consideration. Time keeps marching on and people continue to be killed.”

Ruth said the plan is designed to increase the department’s coverage of the city with the existing patrol force--about 130 of a total of 344 officers. He said the shift changes would apply only to patrol officers.

Officers would essentially be working 36-hour weeks, but Ruth said each officer would be paid for a 40-hour week and would contribute four hours each week to a department-controlled bank of time that could be used to activate officers for additional duty when there was a need.

Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy, whose department performed the study, said the plan could be presented to officers within a few weeks.

“We certainly need more police officers,” Ruth said. “It is a legitimate issue, but these are tough times. We have got to find other ways of doing business.”

As part of the city’s analysis, several other municipalities operating on similar schedules were questioned about the transition, including the cities of La Palma and San Clemente, Ruth said.

La Palma Police Cmdr. David Barr said that his force went to 12-hour shifts about a decade ago. He said the department has touted it as a major recruiting tool and credits it with “drastically” reducing sick days among its 17 patrol officers.

“We just didn’t find fatigue to be a problem, nor have we found that officers had too much time on their hands,” Barr added.

About the only threat to the scheduling system, Barr said, was the time that officers were required to spend in court to provide testimony in criminal cases. He said some court dates can require officers to report to court immediately before or after their shifts.

“We have been pleased with it,” he concluded.

In the larger San Clemente Police Department, Capt. Alicia Powers said the force’s 26 patrol officers were placed on the 3/12 schedule for a year’s trial period ending last February, after which the city permanently implemented the system.

Powers said the new schedule has maintained levels of response on service calls and is popular among the officers.

“It’s working for us,” the captain said. “We have not had any stress-related injuries, and there have been no major negative impacts. Personally, I do think fatigue exists, but the plan is so popular that officers never acknowledge it.”

In Anaheim, Bryan of the Police Officers Assn. said he is aware of the city’s studies but added that the proposal has not been put before association members for their consideration.

“I think there are mixed emotions,” Bryan said. “Some think that it requires too many hours, but it does put more manpower on the street and provides better coverage.”

Under the plan, Bryan noted, there would be additional officers available at peak times during the day, usually from 10 p.m. to after midnight and during the daily rush-hour periods.

“Some people tend to think that working three days a week would be a plum for the officers. Try working 12 hours or 12 1/2 hours a day and tell me if it is a plum.”