By Amanda Spence
CHICAGO — A new report out of the Chicago Inspector General’s office found that city cops are working 11 or more days on average without a day off.
According to Fox 32, 10% of the Chicago Police Department’s officers were ordered to work 11 days consecutively during April and May. The work schedules came before summer when many Chicago events ended in canceled time off for officers.
CPD Superintendent David Brown said the department is trying to remedy the situation.
“We have work to do as far as some of the loose ends, but I believe most of it has been captured and we’ve been exempted. We’re not canceling days off for Labor Day, for example,” Brown said. “So we’re concerned about our members’ work schedules, we’ve made exceptions for officers and we’ve added some relief to the canceled day-off rotation as well.”
Brown also mentioned that some officers didn’t have to work the 11-day schedules and a number of them volunteered to do so.
“Lots of industries have restrictions on how long it is appropriate for people to work without rest: airline pilots, truck drivers, medical residents, and we want to aid the city in its decision making to staff the police department in a way that best keeps people safe,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.
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