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Shift work terms, explained
Every agency has its own vocabulary, and most of it gets learned by overhearing rather than by being told. These are short, plain answers to the words that turn up on a roster — each one linked to the rotations where it actually applies.
What is a Kelly day?
Kelly day
A Kelly day is a scheduled day off built into a rotation so the average working week comes down to the hours the contract calls for. It is not leave a…
What is a swing shift?
swing shift
A swing shift is the tour that sits between the day and night shifts — typically starting in the middle of the afternoon and finishing around mi…
What is the graveyard shift?
graveyard shift
The graveyard shift is the overnight tour — usually somewhere around eleven at night to seven in the morning. In policing it is also called midn…
What is a tour of duty?
tour of duty
A tour of duty is the shift an officer is assigned to work: the hours, the days and the watch. Depending on the agency it can mean a single shift, or …
What is a compressed work schedule?
compressed work schedule
A compressed work schedule fits your contracted hours into fewer, longer days. Four ten-hour days instead of five eights is the best known version; ni…
What is a shift bid?
shift bid
A shift bid is how an agency assigns officers to watches and rotations — usually by seniority, and usually once or twice a year. What you bid de…
What is an off-duty detail?
off-duty detail
An off-duty detail is paid work an officer takes outside their regular hours, usually in uniform: construction sites, sporting events, licensed premis…
What is a platoon in policing?
platoon
A platoon — also called a squad, a shift, a watch or a relief — is the group of officers who work the same rotation together. Which platoo…
Whatever your agency calls it
Save the pattern you actually work and the calendar fills itself in. The paid duty work, the court dates and the training go on top of it.
Scan to install — or hold it up for the officer next to you.
