By changing police officers’ schedules from working five eight-hour days to working four 10-hour days, Hopkinsville Police Chief Guy Howie hopes to boost morale, improve training and enhance the overall quality of policing at the department.

The five eight-hour days don’t allow for “team policing,” Howie said during a Thursday night Committee of the Whole meeting.

The current schedule also doesn’t allow for consistency in who works together and only allows one supervisor to every eight or nine officers.

The change in the schedule will allow for closer supervision, providing one supervisor for every five or six officers, he said.

Officers will also start rotating shifts every 12 weeks.

“They get settled into one shift for too long, they lose sight of the range of policing,” Howie said.

Howie said the schedules will be better for the officers, as well, allowing them three days off in a row, and every third week they will have four days off in a row connected to a weekend.

“I think it’s going to boost the morale of the troops,” Howie said. “I know it’s going to boost the morale of the wives.”

This will also allow for the entire force to work on the same day once a week, providing an opportunity for a training day for half of the force every week, Howie said.

“I’m determined to have one of the best trained departments in the state,” Howie said. “This gives me the opportunity to do that.

Howie also announced that he was able to promote three corporals to sergeants and stay $38,000 under budget.

The members of the committee were all smiles after Howie’s presentation.

“I’m just amazed that you can get that much accomplished from just changing your shift from eight hours to 10 hours,” said Councilman Jonathan Zordel. “It’s just incredible.”

In other announcements, Howie told the committee that the force is going to have a total of four police K-9s after the housing authority agreed to buy one dog for the department.

Councilman Dave Fernandez asked Howie about the possibility of getting bullet-proof vests for the dogs. Howie said he was looking into it.

The Street Crimes Unit, which was disbanded earlier this year under former Chief Kermit Yeager, is being reinstated and officers Kyle Spurlin and Gabriel Gillingham have been appointed to it.

Source:
KY New Era, September 19, 2008
By Julia Hunter, New Era Staff Writer