The officer has 7 years on the job, so he may have ended up having to take that patrol job based on his years in service. I believe most jobs in police departments are based on seniority. The better jobs, with better hours, and days off, like weekends, are usually taken by more senior officers. We had a bidding system based on seniority. Jobs that became vacant were posted for 30 days. The person with the highest seniority date got the job. In my department, you had to have a year on the job before you could bid, and because you had no time, you usually ended up in the shittiest jobs, on a shift you didn't want to work. And you had to keep that job for six months before you could bid on anything else. If you weren't able to win a job because you were outbid, you were at the mercy of the staffing Lieutenant or Chart Sergeant. You could get off work at 11 p.m. at night, and you might have to turn around and come back in at 7 a.m. They could even make you work 16 hours from 3-11 p.m., then stay for the 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. shift. Because the 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. shift was considered to be the next day, they wouldn't pay you overtime for that extra 8 hours they sucked out of you. Somebody's got to work those neighborhoods, and with police unions and contractual agreements, you can't simply pick black officers to patrol black neighborhoods, if the black cops have seniority. They were new once, and had to do the shit jobs like everyone else. More than likely though, there are more than enough black and white officers on the bottom rung of the seniority list, so they are stuck for now patrolling those streets until they get some time on the job.
I see, thanks. I notice many companies have done away with the seniority status, and instead on merit.
My son is a policeman, and I repeatedly ask him why does he want to put himself in such jeopardy?
He says he doesn’t plan to do it forever. He’s moved out of state, and is now in Virginia. When he was here, he had some really crappy hours. day, night, night, day.