Still10-8-Book Review

“ Tired Cops”
Book review by : Mr. G.


When you ride by a patrol car on the highway or on your city streets it isn’t unreasonable to expect that officer to be well rested and free from fatigue. When you call for the police, it isn’t unreasonable to expect the officer who responds to be well rested and free from fatigue. Are we in law enforcement living up to this expectation? According to Bryan Vila, author of “ Tired Cops” the average officer is anything but well rested. His book covers such topics as; Approaches to Shift Work, Sources and Expected Impact of Fatigue on Police Officers, The Pervasiveness of Fatigue Among Police Officers and much more. Dr. William Dement of Stanford University says, upon completion of his review of this book, “ It is totally reprehensible that the cops we expect to protect us, come to our aid and respond to our needs when victimized should be allowed to have the worse fatigue and sleep conditions of any profession in our society.” Although it sounds as if he is being critical, and he is, Dr. Dement is really trying to encourage support for greater public awareness and consideration when it comes to our men and women in blue. He isn’t being critical of the police, just the conditions under which they are required to perform.

The author of the book, Bryan Vila, has many fascinating statistics to share. Many of which will give the average law enforcement leader pause to reflect. One table, comparing the proportion of officers killed feloniously vs. accidentally from 1974-1998 shows felonious deaths dropping and accidental deaths rising. The link between fatigue and accidents has been acknowledged at least since early in the last century. Research has shown that fatigue tends to undermine a person’s ability to make sound decisions, control his/her emotions, and perform complex motor tasks (like driving a vehicle).

We control the number of hours a trucker can legally operate his/her “rig” without rest, however, few, if any rules govern the number of hours a police officers can work without rest. An officer completing an eight-hour shift, then pulling 4-6 hours on an off-duty job, then squeezing in a little on-the-job overtime at the P.D. the next day is on the street in a condition which could lead to poor decision making, citizen complaints, missed clues, minor driving accidents, excessive use of force, etc. These can all be the result of fatigue.

Vila ends his book with a positive report on the changing trends towards reducing police fatigue. His “Check List For Managers” (supervisors) is worth the price of the book alone. This book is highly recommended for officers, supervisors, city councilmen and spouses. If an officer starts his/her shift well rested, he/she has a greater likelihood of reaching the daily goal for every officer in every police department – GO HOME AT THE END OF THE SHIFT.