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What is a 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 the block of time you are posted to one watch before rotating to another.
Two uses of the same phrase
A single shift. “I worked a twelve-hour tour” means one shift, start to finish.
An assignment. “I am on the midnight tour” means the watch you are posted to, which might last a month, a quarter or a year before you rotate.
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Tour and rotation are not the same thing
The rotation is the pattern of days on and days off. The tour is which part of the clock you work while you are on. Two officers can work the same rotation on different tours — one on days, one on nights — and their calendars will look identical apart from the time of day.
Why the changeover matters
On a slow rotation you might hold one tour for a month before flipping. That changeover week is the hardest week of the cycle, and it is the one worth being able to see coming.
Where it turns up
The changeover week · Panama, with a slow tour rotation · Fixed against rotating
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