New CMPD Scheduling May Make A Drop In Crime

Eyewitness News has uncovered a Charlotte-MecklenburgM Police pilot program that may help reduce crime.

Since October, the Westover Division in West Charlotte has changed schedules for officers. Instead of working five 8-hour shifts, they work four 10-hour shifts. The reason is due to crime trends. Officers told Eyewitness News a large portion of their crimes, such as burglaries, larcenies, and drug complaints, happen in the afternoon. The new schedule allows shifts to overlap more so that more officers are on the streets during the peak time.

From October 1st through December 31st last year, police told Eyewitness News overall crime dropped 12.4 percent from that time last year. However, it is not clear if the decrease can definitely be attributed to the scheduling change or something else.

One concern with the new schedule: fatigue. The way the schedule works, every other month, officers work seven straight 10 hour days. "That is the number one concern, and what we want to know from officers is can you do it or is it too much?" said Randy Hagler. He is part of the Fraternal Order of Police which advocates for officers.

The Westover Division told Eyewitness News they knew fatigue would be a concern, so they have monitored the number of officer-involved accidents and injuries on the job and have not noticed any increase since the pilot program started.

Eyewitness News obtained an e-mail that shows at least one other division, the Hickory Grove division, is looking into the scheduling change too. However, police tell us it may not work for all divisions. In fact, some divisions have seen drops in crime using an entirely different schedule.