Paper Hour???

So what is with this apparent new policy of all evening units going on paper at 2100?

Recently one of the evening sgts has made a point to start calling all of his road units off of the road if they need to work on paper 2 hours prior to their shift ending. I believe that I speak for most of the midnight shift when I say that this is completely ridiculous. I, for one, have more than one problem with this...

My first question is this: Has this Sgt started doing this because he feels that his officers need to be treated like recruits again and given the time to work on their reports? Or is this just another one of his antics to show that he is an all-powerful double digit who gets hiw way no matter how out of line it may be?

I really feel that if I was an evening unit right now, I would be a little embarrassed about this. I dont doubt that you all work very hard on your shift. But I do know that you all dont take a whole lot more paper than we do on mids and problably on days. So why does this sgt feel as though he needs to set aside a special time for you to work on paper like our FTO's did for us when we were recruits? I know that I was trained to manage my work on my own. If I needed to go on paper I went. Theres nothing wrong with that. But I certainly dont need my sgt telling me when to go on paper.

I mean, come on....."Any evening unit down 2 or more reports please report to the pd for paper" is stupid. Are you all really having that difficult of a time keeping up with your paperwork? If you really cant handle the workload of a busier shift than maybe you need to go to a differant one. You all signed up for that shift knowing full well how busy it can be. And by the way, is it really neccessary to go to the pd for paper now? With this new computer system cant we all work on our reports inbetween calls in our cruisers? Oh thats right....i forgot.....hes probably not doing this because its logical and makes sense. Hes doign this out of shear principal... to show whos boss!


I apologize if this post seems to be criticizing the evening officers. I am not trying to do that. I know how your sgt is and i know that you cant be held responsible for the things that he may do. Im just saying that it seems like he is making you all look bad so that he can prove his alpha-male status to some of the midnight supervision. I think that maybe a message should be sent to him that this is uneccesary, and quite frankly, unfair to us on mids. He seems to forget that those two hours are also our time to work on paper...or do wellenss...or admin....or anything else that we may not have time to do when evening shift goes home. We dont have a lapping at the end of our shift to do these things.

I guess its a little pointless to rant abot this now though, seeing as how he will be on the other end of this scenario in a few days. I am interested to see how he manages mids....will he still be ok when an evening shift supervisor calls his men off of the road at 2100, or will he prove himself to be a hypocrite by demanding that evening shift officers now work up until 2300. Whatever happens, I am sure it will fall in his favor. Cant wait to see how things go.

Its just Butch being Butch, get over it! :shock: :shock: :shock:

If you have a problem with him, tell him. I'm sure it wont go over well! The fact is, posts of this nature really need not get posted for everyone to see. Grow a pair and either suck it up or speak to him.

I understand that you feel as though you are getting the short end of the stick when you come on duty and afternoons is going on paper with or witout a Sgt. telling them. Midnights tends to be busy up front and most of the time it dies down around three giving units plenty of time to do paperwork, eat meal, dui enforcement, etc...I have worked eves and it can get crazy going call to call almost everyday until 2300. Dont get me wrong I have worked mids as well and it can be call to call if staffing drops.

Given the fact that I have been on both I can see both sides of the argument. Bottom line is each shift has its own special pros and cons. I would address this concern with your Sgt. to see why it is that this is being done or pull the call volume for the day and see how the work load was. Dont stir the hornets nest unless you have the bug spray. Please dont get into a shift war and create were better then you are attitude between shifts. For the record I am not downing your point of view I am simply expressing mine.

I do see your point Mids Unit. And though I do also understand the point that "you need to grow a pair" and speak to him in person about this issue, this can be said about pretty much any topic on this website. This is what this website was created for. Almost every post on this website is a rant directed at something or someone.

Bottom line is, you could go to Butch and tell him in person....but I can gaurantee it will only cause more problem than good. In most of these situations, I believe that it is better to suck it up and deal with it rather than go to a supervisor every time we disagree with something that is being done. In the mean time, feel free to use this post to spread your point to other officers and see what the general feeling is about your topic...just be respectful.

As for this specific topic, I think you have a good point. I think that there are enough units on the road during 2100-2300 for anyone that needs to go on paper, whether mids or evenings, to do it. I also think that we are all adults who know to ask for this when we need it. If we need our sgts telling us when to g on paper, then we are just a bunch of Nunley's and Hoedge's.