“Take a Break!”: A Qualitative Study of Shift-Duty Police Officers’ On-The-Job Breaks

• Author: Shi Min Toh,Eunae Cho
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111221074907
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023

Article

Police Quarterly

2023, Vol. 26(1) 111–137

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111221074907

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“Take a Break!”:A

Qualitative Study of

Shift-Duty Police Officers’

On-The-Job Breaks

Shi Min Toh, MSc

1,2

and Eunae Cho, PhD

1



Abstract

This qualitative study examined on-the-job breaks taken by shift-duty police officers.

We explored the nature of on-the-job breaks among officers, their perception of these

breaks as helping them to recover and replenish resources, and what factors shaped

their on-the-job breaks. Data were collected from 21 shift-duty police officers via semi-

structured interviews. Findings show that on-the-job breaks were categorized into

official and unofficial breaks, each of which had fairly distinctive characteristics. The

timing, activities engaged in during breaks, and subjective experiences during breaks

were thought to determine the effectiveness of on-the-job breaks. Officers reported

that the adverse impacts of skipping a break tended to exceed the benefits of taking a

break. On-the-job breaks were shaped by various work and non-work factors. As the

first study delving into on-the-job breaks among shift-duty police officers, this study

expands our understanding of specific strategies employed by police officers to deal

with ongoing work demands.

Keywords

recovery, rest breaks, job stress, shift work, law enforcement officers

1

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

2

Singapore Police Force, Singapore

Corresponding Author:

Eunae Cho, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639818, Singapore.

Email: Eunae.iopsych@gmail.com

Policing is a highly stressful and demanding job that requires 24/7 presence. Police

forces all over the world face the challenge of keeping their officers healthy while

meeting their core mission of maintaining public safety and security (Cartwright &

Roach, 2020;Morash et al., 2008;Violanti et al., 2017). Extensive research on the

occupation of policing has demonstrated the adverse impacts of the work hours (e.g.,

long hours, shift work; Barger et al., 2009;G. D. Bishop et al., 2007;Rajaratnam et al.,

2011;Vila et al., 2002) on police officers’health. Furthermore, the demands of shift

work and the resulting health impairments among police officers have been shown to

impact their on-the-job safety (e.g., Violanti et al., 2012) and performance (e.g., James

et al., 2018;Waggonner, 2012). Evidence to date demonstrates that promoting health

among police officers is critically important not only for individual officers but also for

operational effectiveness and efficiency.

Despite the far-reaching implications for police officers’health, shift work schedules

are inherent to policing. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies are limited in their

ability to reduce work hours or manipulate the work schedules of officers in the current

environment of heightened security threats and concurrent resource constraints. These

unique circumstances call for research that identifies alternative strategies to mitigate

the impact of shift work demands and facilitate officers’recovery from job stress. Such

knowledge is necessary to properly equip officers with the physical and mental re-

sources to best meet their job responsibilities.

With these concerns in mind, this study examined the on-the-job breaks taken by

shift-work police officers in a Southeast Asian country. Considering various con-

straints, on-the-job breaks are likely a feasible means for police officers to achieve

effective recovery from job stress. However, little is known about the nature of on-the-

job breaks among police officers, how and if they perceive these breaks as helping their

recovery and resource replenishment, and what organizational and individual char-

acteristics affect their on-the-job breaks. In this study, we adopted a qualitative ap-

proach to obtain an in-depth understanding of these issues from the police officers’

perspective.

This study advances police research by exploring on-the-job breaks among police

officers. While much research has examined various stressors experienced by police

officers (e.g., Adams & Mastracci, 2019;Barger et al., 2009;Gershon et al., 2009;

Toch, 2002), how officers recover from the stress, particularly during their duties, has

received limited attention. Our research also contributes to the current scientific un-

derstanding of on-the-job recovery among shift workers. Despite the negative health

consequences associated with shift work, shift workers have been understudied,

perhaps because the very nature of their work (i.e., round-the-clock duties) makes it

difficult for them to participate in research (Sonnentag et al., 2017). In terms of practical

value, this study provides a pragmatic understanding of how police officers manage

their resources to successfully meet job demands while maintaining health. The impact

of this research is substantial, considering that proper recovery from job stress is shown

to ameliorate the detrimental effects of job stress on long-term as well as short-term

health outcomes (Demerouti et al., 2009;Sonnentag et al., 2017).

112 Police Quarterly 26(1)