Poor Advise for the Rookie Officer

There are a number of pit falls in making the transition from civilian to police officer. The same is true for new firefighters and new EMT/Paramedics also. One of the hardest changes is working 3rd shift.

Many people just can’t do the up all night, and sleep all day thing. Not to mention the fact that people on a “normal” schedule, up in day light, don’t seem to always get what it means to work overnight.

Which was the issue for a rookie police officer I know. He was having an issue where twice a week his mom was calling him. Usually right around noon. So basically right in the middle of his sleeping time.

This as you can imagine became a great topic at shift change one morning not too long ago. Also as you can imagine the this new officer got a lot of ribbing about his mommy calling him.

So the litany of ideas from people started…

• Turn off your ringer
• Unplug the phone
• Take the receiver off the hook
• Don’t have a phone in your bed room
• Use a service like Google Voice and forward calls right to voice mail

Then I gave my two cents worth. “Tomorrow night when you are on duty, when we get slow at 3am, call your mom. Show her you truly are up in the middle of the night and what it is like to wake up to a ringing phone”.

Keep in mind I have not talked to him. But rumor has it that he did not have a good Easter at home with his family. Sounds like more than one family member had an opinion of his late night call home.