Does NYPD Detectives' Intense Schedule Encourage Drinking?

After a recent drunken driving fatality involving an off-duty NYPD detective, the city detectives union is considering changing the schedule that some say contributes to alcohol abuse. Some 2,000 of the city's 5,500 detectives routinely work two night shifts, then two day shifts, then get two days off. But because the turnover is so short between the end of the night shift at 1 a.m. and the start of the day shift at 8 a.m., most detectives who reside outside the city don't bother going home. Instead, they go out drinking and then sleep at precinct houses.

In September, Detective Timothy Duffy was killed when he crashed into a garbage truck on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Duffy had ended his shift at 2 a.m. and was due back at work at 8 a.m. Instead of commuting home to Suffolk County, he stayed in the city and was drinking before the accident. Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association, tells the Daily News, "His death raises your level of suspicion: how much does the turnaround have to do with catastrophes like that?"

And one Queens detective tells the News, "You're away from your family. You got guys going out drinking. It's on their own time, but that's where you get problems." Union delegates will now poll detectives to determine if a majority favor a schedule change; if so, the union will approach Commissioner Raymond Kelly about the issue.

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By John Del Signore in News on November 9, 2009 9:24 AM

Comments [rss]

Spirit of 76

It's long been known that rotating shifts are the worst, even worse than a permanent graveyard shift. The human body is not built to keep switching between day and night. I guess NYPD never got that memo.

JenChungsBaby

Sounds more like it encourages sleeping. If I got off work at 1AM and had to be back at 8AM I wouldn't be out drinking for those seven hours.

books

its because there are no penalties for them if they drink and drive. i know for a fact 99%, of cops pulled over by another cop will get off scott free unless they've already killed someone. its that above the law culture thats to blame.

ENP1

Must we make excuses on behalf of every perpetrator of every crime???

In America, nobody is accountable for their actions, there's always an excuse. It's pathetic.

Oh, some cop kills someone while drunk-driving? it must be the schedule. Some jihadist kills soldiers at Ft. Hood? it must be PTSD or racism by the army. Oh, some woman got raped? That poor rapist was abused as a child.

This PC, blame-anyone-other-than-the-perp nonsense has got to stop.

Steven

5 hours between shifts!!?? Why would anyone go home unless you live within 15mins from your place. Time you get home it's time to head out again.

lemon

Here's a simple solution: switch the order of the days so that they have 17 hours off instead of 7. Shifting from the night to the day shift would then have the weekend days to buffer it.

zodak

a lot of people have intense schedules, most people would sleep those few hours in between shifts, it's only asshole nypd detectives that think they are entitled to drink before going to work.

Mushmouse

I don't think it's the 'Intense Schedule' that encourages drinking! It's the Intense Lying!

wowthatsucks

Here's a crazy idea, how about not drinking?

Kojak

Just working for the NYPD encourages drinking. Getting a TICKET from the NYPD encourages drinking. LOOKING at a police officer encourages drinking.

S.D.

"Does NYPD Detectives' Intense Schedule Encourage Drinking?"?

I doubt its that simple, but definitely a part of the problem.

Also you wrote:

"most detectives who reside outside the city don't bother going home. Instead, they go out drinking and then sleep at precinct houses."?

"most detectives"? How'd you come to that conclusion? The article actually says:

Instead of driving an hour or more each way to go home, hundreds of detectives sleep at precinct houses.

Others go out drinking because they have nothing else to do during the hours between 1 a.m., when their night shift ends, and 8 a.m., when the day shift begins.
That's a big difference from implying that Most detectives go out drinking instead of just getting rest...

Mookie Wilson

How about taking away their free illegal parking privileges so they have to take the trains like the rest of us working drunks?

Jen Chung

Are regular officers' shifts like this? I'm thinking specifically about the cop Andrew Kelly who was allegedly drunk when he fatally struck Vionique Valnord.