Editor’s note: This year’s “What Cops Want” survey focused on officer wellbeing. Out of the 2,833 respondents to the survey, many officers cited the lack of time as a significant barrier to achieving mental wellness and stress relief. One solution highlighted by some respondents was the introduction of sabbaticals to address this issue:
- “Mandatory sabbaticals (paid time off above and beyond PTO).”
- “More time off with the expectation that we will be left alone and not contacted by work for literally anything.”
- “Sabbatical policy to allow officers a real break and time for a mental reset as needed. Award a lump sum of time off every few years for veteran officers.”
In this article, Police1 columnist Kathleen Dias delves into the progressive measures being adopted by a forward-thinking police department that has embraced this approach, showcasing how they are leading the way in enhancing officer wellness through sabbatical programs. Click here to download the “What Cops Want” report.
Officer Cody Haakonson drove home, turned off his work cell phone and laid it on a kitchen counter. He didn’t turn it back on for a month. From mid-May to mid-June, he didn’t set foot on police department property, or go to court.
Instead, he slept late, trained for a marathon with his new wife, and spent time with his family without navigating night shifts and days off during the week. He golfed, gardened and retreated to Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, far from the reach of cell towers. Haakonson completely disconnected from the grind of police work, and came back refreshed and ready to tackle his training rotation with a new hire. Even better, he did it without missing a paycheck or using a single day of PTO.
This small miracle was possible because Haakonson works for the Paynesville Police Department, whose dogged, prickly chief believes that tenacity and imagination are better routes to retention than repeating the same stuff that hasn’t worked for years.
I last talked with Chief Paul Wegner in 2022, when he had just succeeded in convincing his city administration (with a population of about 2,500 residents) to give his harebrained — his word — sabbatical idea a try. The idea was to provide any officer with five years’ service a paid, month-long break, to avert burnout and increase retention and productivity.
At the time, no Paynesville officer qualified yet. Haakonson is the first, and the program seems so promising that the small department now offers the sabbatical to officers at three years of service rather than five, and every three years after that as well.
Why a sabbatical?
Paynesville PD was struggling with recruiting and retention. The agency couldn’t compete with larger departments offering higher salaries, and the recruiting pool had fallen to a bare 10% of previous numbers. New officers routinely left within two years.
“When they did stay,” Wegner said, “I could see changes, attitudes that started to shift a little.” He saw burnout: officers growing discouraged and tired from dealing with everyone’s worst days, every day.
After some research, and talking with his pastor who had just completed a 10-week sabbatical, Wegner wondered if a complete disconnect from the job’s pressure would make a difference for his officers too. What if he could “catch” officers falling to fatigue and stress before they quit? What if he could improve the department’s environment enough to take the shine off a higher salary in a bigger city?
Wegner took the plan to the city council and after some skepticism, they approved it. How big a risk could it be when no officer had yet stayed long enough to qualify?
“It took five years of struggle, but the current council is extremely supportive,” Wegner said. “I gained ground by just telling the hard truth consistently, not sugarcoating the facts. It’s not just money that’s needed, it’s sustainable programs. We can only attract young people, new officers, so we want to attract people who want to live here and bring their families too. If bringing relief (from job stress) extends an officer’s ‘shelf life,’ so be it.”
How does a sabbatical work in Paynesville?
The sabbatical benefit is available to every officer who stays for three years and will be available again every three years after that. The original plan was for a five-year schedule — and Haakonson worked there for five years before taking the first sabbatical — but Wegner pushed for a drop to only three years. “It just doesn’t make sense to let them get completely burned out before using the benefit,” he said. “The new officer trainee we hired says he intends to stay till he gets his sabbatical, and that’s a whole year longer than I’ve been getting.” Wegner estimates recruiting and hiring costs for one officer at between $20,000 and 30,000. Each year he can avoid that expenditure is a net savings.
The sabbatical does not affect an officer’s paid time off. “We work a five on, two off, two on, five off 12-hour schedule,” Wegner said. “That allows for efficient use of PTO.” The officers can cobble together significant breaks by using just a few days off on either side of a regular break, and they are all used to covering for each other. The long break of the sabbatical is a reward for longevity paid in time rather than cash.
A few months before the expected sabbatical, Wegner met with Haakonson to choose dates that worked well for both of them. When the day arrived, the officer logged out of his work email and shut off his phone. Wegner sent him home and advised the courts that he would be unavailable for the duration of the break.
Haakonson said, “This isn’t just a vacation. It’s more therapeutic: a focus on reset, on getting good sleep. I live in the community where I work. I’m ‘Cody the Police Officer’’ to everyone. I drive a billboard around.” During the sabbatical, he said, he finally got to set that down.
“This is a program that doesn’t need to be overly complicated,” Wegner said. “Everyone I’ve talked to about it, I feel like I let them down because it’s such a simple program. ‘You’ve worked here for three years. Please go away for a month. We love you. But go away.’ The more we get involved, the less it’s about the officer. The program — the time — needs managing, not the officers. Australia has a one-year program. I think the US can figure out one month.”
What about the costs and coverage?
Doubts about sabbaticals usually concern cost and shift coverage. Wegner said that he reminded the council that the officer’s pay for that month is already in the budget. If they took the time as, say, parental leave, it would cost the same and the city would have no recourse but to deal with it. He asked them, “What’s the difference? If it results in a more resilient officer who makes better decisions and maintains better community relationships, it’s worth it.”
“We had to depend a little more on the sheriff’s office for backup,” Wegner said of the time Haakonson took off. “I adjusted my own schedule to be more available (since) we were down to two full-time patrol officers, because of a trainee. If it cost the city $1,000 in overtime, I’d be surprised.”
The effect of disconnecting
“I don’t get told I’m grumpy as often,” Haakonson said, and he laughed. “I feel like my head is clearer, fresher. I’m looking forward to work again, to training the new officer.” He said that of his friends who started law enforcement careers at the same time he did, at least half a dozen expressed doubt about their career choices within the first five years. “If they don’t look forward to coming to work, if they’re counting the days and considering change already, they need a break,” he said.
“I have lots of LE friends who are envious because this (the sabbatical program) shows that my employer cares about overall wellbeing,” Haakonson said. “When someone asks about it when I’m at a training and I start to explain, you can see heads crank. They hear what I’m saying and they’re like ‘You get WHAT?? Are you hiring?’”
Wegner said, “If somebody’s willing to do this, you should want to work for them. Those bosses care for them and have got their backs. A sabbatical isn’t enough alone, but an admin that sees value in a wild thing like a sabbatical will see the use of good pay, etc., as well. If it works here, it will work across the industry, not just in our department.” On that note, Wegner commended the city council for their support in advancing wages and improving benefits including paying the full costs of health insurance premiums for officers and their families.
The takeaway
Both Wegner and Haakonson understand that the experience of one officer in one department is a very small study. Nevertheless, they are encouraged by the results of the experiment.
Wegner said, “Naysayers focus on negatives while refusing to look at positives. The only real cost might be moderate overtime but it saves on hiring costs and preserves institutional knowledge and community relationships that can’t be quantified. If we focus on the positives, we see the outcome is well-rested, more focused officers. We can give our staff the opportunity to stay positive, to create better relationships in the community, possibly see fewer uses of force, fewer accidents.”
He paused for a moment and then said, “Talking about reforming the profession based on tactics is the wrong idea. If we treat people right, they’ll be going to work with a clear mind and focus, and make better choices. If you don’t try, you’ve already failed. It is a manageable program.”
