I rarely take time off. It's tough with a one-man shift and having to arrange coverage, and we've been short-staffed the last 4 months which makes it even worse. We finally have one hired and in training, but until they're released it doesn't really help with coverage...in fact it's kinda worse at the moment because we have to train them.

I worked all through the holidays, covered extra shifts, had 30+hours of regular OT in the last cycle (that I still haven't been paid for because payroll screwed it up), and that's not counting extra outside details. I currently have close to 160 hours of comp on the books as well. I finally arranged for three days off here in two weeks, which isn't even really a true vacation because I'm using it to remodel our bathroom. But at least I was going to have 7 straight days off of work to get stuff done, and I was really looking forward to it.

Enter the prosecutor's office. Yesterday I get a subpoena for a suppression hearing, and guess when it is. Yep, right in the middle of my scheduled time off. They were all off enjoying the holidays for the past few weeks when I was at work every day, but now that I finally get some time off they're going to do their best to muck it up with a trial. It's far from the first time they've done this, either...they have a knack for scheduling stuff at the worst possible time.

FML .

I feel your pain.

The relentlessness of it all was one of the factors in me (mostly) leaving law enforcement a year ago.

Keep fighting the good fight. I hope you can get a little breathing room once your rookie becomes a real boy.

Sad that a distinguished public servant was given a subpoena. Why would an allied "prosecutor" issue such a document if the LEO would willingly appear?

The subpoena is just how they notify us. It's normal procedure and not at all out of the norm. I've got no problem with how they did that, just the timing sucks.

At least I'm on day shift now. Nights really sucked because even though the vast majority the patrol cops in our county work the same 12-hour rotating schedule, the prosecutors office and courts always hold traffic court on Tuesday mornings at 9:00am, which falls between two work days on the road schedule. So if you worked all night Monday and get off at 6:00am, you have to be back in court at 9:00am, sit around for a couple of hours, go home to try and sleep, and be back to work for another 12 hour shift at 6:00pm. I get that you have to do court, but why not do it on a Monday or Wednesday afternoon so you're not keeping guys up between working shifts? The answer, I can only assume, is because they don't care.

yep. I feel ya!

Worked Monday night. Traffic court Tuesday at 10:30. Sat for an hour after dude no showed. Was released at noon. Had to nap before going back to work. 6p-6a. Admin laughed when they saw me and told me to stop writing traffic tickets.

I'm working this weekend and of course Monday trial at county at 9am. I'm off Monday/Tuesday but they want us there Monday morning. They'll be lucky if a jury is picked by Monday afternoon. They don't need me Monday but I have to go anyway. Lawyers don't care. Told lawyer I will be sleeping in the waiting area.

I feel your pain. my wife has been short staffed and having to work forced OT She took vacation that was then cancelled. So she did not get to see her out of town family very much. She gets supeona's alot but they usually take a plea before she has to testify

I am using 100 hours of comp time in feb and march and then taking a bunch of use it or lose this year!!!

My department ended up making a 'Sleep Room' for such occasions as it happened all the time. It had a leather recliner that laid a little flatter than a typical recliner.

They had considered an actual bed, but then you'd have to deal with pillows and sheets so a recliner it was.

quote:

Originally posted by Tonydec:
My department ended up making a 'Sleep Room' for such occasions as it happened all the time. It had a leather recliner that laid a little flatter than a typical recliner.

They had considered an actual bed, but then you'd have to deal with pillows and sheets so a recliner it was.

We have a couch in the squad room that I've used for that purpose a few times. It works pretty good until admin comes in around 8:00 and starts making noise.

Our FOP lodge finally put a stop to our courts and prosecutor scheduling BS cases like pre-trials and suppression hearings by mandating a set number of hours of OT per appearance type. Prior to this being handled contractually, your court appearance was straight time. Then we got it changed to if the court function falls during your duty cycle (we worked 6 on - 3 off) it was four hours minimum OT. If it fell on your days off, 6 hours minimum. Once the city figured out how much they were going to pay in OT for a cop to show up for a 20 minute pre-trial, they pressured the court and our prosecutor to reduce or check scheduling for these short PITA appearances. The pre-trial hearings were the worst. I would show. The prosecutor would show. The assholes lawyer would show. But no show for the asshole! Bingo! Bench warrant issued. My whole day shot for a half hour appearance. Making matters worse was you had to drive to the station, go to records and sign out the case file before you drove to court! No more getting off midnights and having to go to a pre-trial at 10:30 AM. Took some doing, but we finally accomplished at least some sanity in scheduling most court appearances.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
yep. I feel ya!

Worked Monday night. Traffic court Tuesday at 10:30. Sat for an hour after dude no showed. Was released at noon. Had to nap before going back to work. 6p-6a. Admin laughed when they saw me and told me to stop writing traffic tickets.

I'm working this weekend and of course Monday trial at county at 9am. I'm off Monday/Tuesday but they want us there Monday morning. They'll be lucky if a jury is picked by Monday afternoon. They don't need me Monday but I have to go anyway. Lawyers don't care. Told lawyer I will be sleeping in the waiting area.

I'm at the point in my career where I tell the county if I'm available that day. I refuse to base my life on the wants and needs of the most inefficient county court in the country.

No Zoom option? Our 3 courts can and do pretty much everything but trial and sentencing via Zoom.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
No Zoom option? Our 3 courts can and do pretty much everything but trial and sentencing via Zoom.

Nope, it's all in person. At least I get paid. Payroll will probably screw it up so I won't see it for a month or two, but I should get it eventually.