About to hit the sack, after another crazy night. Shootings, carjackings, foot chases, burglars caught...none of them even the same call. All with just 9 officers.

My guys really hump it. It’s unbelievable the amount of stress they are under. Short doesn’t even touch it. And another resigned tonight.

I get positive feedback from them, the one that turned in their resignation tonight said that the only reason they stayed as long as they did was bc of me. That meant a lot to hear.

I try to think of ways to foster a healthy, fun environment. But the reality is almost every night it’s sprinting a marathon. They usually almost all get off late every day. Some days three or four hours late, on a regular 10.25 hour shift. Just insanely busy, the entire shift most nights. We’ve had literal train wrecks twice in the last week. One fatal and another an Amtrack mess. Plus court and training during the day some weeks for them.

Morale is decent, but it could be better. Any suggestions? Positive review notes can only go so far.

IMO, nothing holds a team together like having drinks together.

I second this.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
IMO, nothing holds a team together like having drinks together.

A family eats together. It sounds like it’s too busy to all clear for a meal during shift. Maybe a pool party with the families?

reach out to the community,
they will be the one's bitching about attitudes,

they are also the ones that have the ability to improve moral.

you can try pounding the lecturn at muster every day
but it's the smile's , handshake's, thank you's , and atta boy's from those you serve , that will do the most

Wow, sounds like some SERIOUS stress going on in your group. I'm no expert but having the crew (and their significant others!) over to your house for a BBQ and a few beers couldn't hurt. Seems like everyone needs to vent a bit. I remember my father saying that WWII was harder on my mom that it was him. She had no clue what kind of shit he was in. I'm thinking the "other half" being stressed might be creating some stress.

I can only speak to the things that I like to see as rewards for a job well done and I fully acknowledge that everyone is motivated by different things and will appreciate other less tangible gestures more.

For myself I feel a monetary reward should always be at the top of the list. Raises and bonus go along way with me. A raise can ease other burdens outside the work place whether paying bills or being the difference between fixing that twenty year old Dodge or buying a new vehicle. Bonuses allow me to reward myself the way I see fit, whether a new gun or paying for a periodic living expense. I had to put new tires on my SUV last year and I used my bonus for completing a project to pay for them.

Outside of that? Sending officers to their desired class as a reward is always a plus. The same project that earned me a bonus also merited a spot in a Lean Six Sigma class. I would imagine some of your officers have been asking for a chance to attend something? Maybe a cross-training class with state law enforcement or that vehicular homicide investigation course?

What about new gear, is there a way to get everyone a new carbine or a new optic? Maybe new Surefire Fury DFT lights?

Really what I am getting at is the most effect moral boosters for me have always been tangible and, unfortunately, things that cost money. Even if it is treating all of your officers to a steak dinner.

I hope that helps.

what you might want to do is if you can get all of you off at the same time, and if there is a Top Golf location near you, plan a few hours

its a nice environment, the food and drinks are good and the golf is secondary

I will make you an offer

If you can get everyone together, I will cover the cost of about 4 hours including food and drinks

If you're able to set-up a BBQ or, get-together, a place for everyone to relax and put their guard down helps. Take everyone out for miniature golf, bowling event, if there's more time, camping or, rafting trip. Fishing can be relaxing and therapeutic for some, find a guide who can help set it up.

Coordinating everyone's schedule can be tough, maybe get gift cards to a local therapeutic/sports massage clinic if you're willing to put forth the funds. With all the in/out of vehicles, carrying gear/armor, physical confrontations, mental gymnastics with perps and attorneys, it'll add up on the body and the mind.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
If you can get everyone together, I will cover the cost of about 4 hours including food and drinks

I'll be more than happy to help you out with that.

I buy my guys pizza whenever we’re getting our dicks stomped so hard there’s not time to go eat. They at least get to grab a slice after throwing their arrests in a holding cell or between calls. I also try to plan ahead and bring in home cooking in a crockpot or casserole from time to time.

The stuff you describe is the nature of afternoon shift. It sucks and isn’t going to improve. Keep detailed account of their accomplishments and arrests. Forward it up the chain. Ask for more bodies.

Sometimes I send guys home early by a few hours and take their calls.

They see your heart is in it and you’re beside them eating from the same plate. I’m sure you remember resenting poor leaders (I do) and sounds like you’re working hard to not be that guy. That in my opinion is the best way to keep up morale with what you got to work with.

Sounds like someone is in need of a good "bbq and beer" day!

quote:

Originally posted by DrewR:
For myself I feel a monetary reward should always be at the top of the list. Raises and bonus go along way with me.

A good thought, but raises and bonuses, especially individual ones, are extremely rare in the law enforcement world.

That's more of a private sector thing.

Besides, a Sergeant isn't high enough up the food chain to be handing out money like that, even if it were available (which it isn't).

Some good suggestions here. But what improved my outlook tremendously was.... Dropping rotating shifts. Shift choice by seniority. IIRC, you have mentioned you guys have an insane rotation. That made for universal shitty attitudes and that went right out on the street.
If you cant pull that off, my outlook was boosted when command staff got up off their ass and then dragged it into a patrol car and actually worked. Took complaints, made arrests and slogged in the trench like the rest of us.
That cheered me up. And our sergeants were slowly having more and more admin BS paperwork foisted off on them, which killed their morale and made it difficult for them to get out of the office and support the troops.
Good luck! Its damn sure tougher out there now then when I worked.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
I'm no expert but having the crew (and their significant others!) over to your house for a BBQ and a few beers couldn't hurt.

When I was in a department where the squads were big enough, at the end of just about every 1600-0200 tour, every squad had a BBQ and beer in a local park. The squads that overlapped would have some officers stop by and spend a little time.

Being that it was around 0215, wives, husbands, significant others weren't in attendance. Which was probably a good thing, as the close calls might not be something good for them to hear firsthand.

It was one of the things that I really enjoyed and fondly remember.

One department had rotating shifts, every week it changed. For a very long time before I was hired and for the entire time I was there. That's what the brass wanted, so it didn't change.

Whats the chances of getting the brass to work some of these shifts? Then maybe they will be more inclined to work on the issues.
I did like the idea og getting the community involved if possible. Local church(s) may be willing to work with you on that, as well as other groups.


Good luck.
Feel free to vent here. It will help!

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Some good suggestions here. But what improved my outlook tremendously was.... Dropping rotating shifts. Shift choice by seniority. IIRC, you have mentioned you guys have an insane rotation. That made for universal shitty attitudes and that went right out on the street.

Holy shit, this.

If you guys are on rotating shifts, that's a recipe for disaster, with rock bottom morale being just one of the symptoms. There are a number of studies out there about the major problems with rotating shifts.

We have a local agency that went to rotating shifts to try and be "fair", initially every 4 weeks. That meant every month, their guys were flopping back and forth. Considering it takes a couple weeks to adjust to a new shift, their officers were spending a good 50% of their lives being sleep-deprived. As expected, complaints and injuries went up, morale and productivity went down, and they started hemorrhaging officers.

They've since modified it to every 60 days or something like that, which is ever so slightly better, but it's still a terrible idea.

But again, decisions about a department's shift rotation policies are generally well above the pay grade of a Sergeant.

If you know the likes of each officer, try small things directed to each individual. One guy loves a certain kind of coffee? Get it. Small knife, bottle of booze, movie tickets, etc. doesn’t have to cost much but when you hand Joe a pair of tickets he can use to catch a flick with his wife or something, that stuff is valued far beyond the monetary value.

Have an ice cream truck swing by occasionally (summer months, they'll take it the wrong way in the winter). Pizza is a sure bet.

Free food of almost any type goes a long way. Eating it together is also key if at all possible.

We rotated shifts quarterly. That made it a little easier, unless you were on graveyard and had to switch to days. Seniority played no part. If you go by seniority, the newer officers would burn out fast. Shift work is a no win for anyone.