Fatigue related to shift work affects the interactions that police officers have with the public, according to findings presented by WSU researchers in criminal justice and criminology at the SLEEP 2016 annual meeting.
These interactions can, in turn, influence the public’s trust in police, the researchers reported.
“Our results indicate that officers who work biologically normal day shifts perform much better than those on other shifts,” said professor Bryan Vila. “This suggests that better fatigue management might improve officers’ ability to deftly manage encounters with the public in ways that win cooperation and reduce the need for use of force.”