Sleep-Deprived Police Officers Risk Everyone’s Safety: Study

Of the nearly 5,000 officers surveyed, 40% screened positive for a sleep disorder such as insomnia or sleep apnea, and the vast majority had never received treatment for their problem.

Most alarming of all, 46% of the officers acknowledged nodding off behind the wheel, and 26% said they did so at least once or twice a month.

Falling asleep at the wheel wasn’t the only hazard posed by tired police. Compared with their well-rested colleagues, officers who met the criteria for a sleep disorder were more likely to make serious administrative or safety errors and exhibit “uncontrolled anger” toward suspects, the study found.

The long hours and irregular shifts often required in police work may partly explain the unusually high rates.



Fifteen percent of the officers reported working 14 to 16 hours at a stretch, and roughly one-quarter worked rotating day and night shifts, which can disrupt sleep-wake cycles and lead to a condition — found in five percent of the officers — known as shift work disorder.

• 18% of the officers who screened positive for a sleep disorder reported making serious administrative errors (versus 13% of those without a sleep disorder)
• 24% (versus 16%) made other errors or safety violations attributable to fatigue
• 34% (versus 29%) percent of officers with a sleep disorder reported losing their temper with civilians

“They can fall in and out of sleep and have no idea it’s happening,” says Grandner, who cowrote an editorial accompanying the study. “Those sorts of things are likely what’s happening when people fall asleep at the wheel.”

Promoting better sleep among police officers — or people in any line of work — will require dissuading employers, employees and the public in general from the idea that sleep deprivation is a mark of strength or dedication, Grandner says.

“We say, ‘I’m so important and I’m so busy, I only get four hours of sleep — that’s all I need to function,’” Grandner says, adding that this mindset may be especially entrenched in professions, such as policing or commercial trucking, that have a macho culture or that financially reward long hours (as with overtime pay).

The study findings do offer a clue to how local governments might encourage healthy sleep habits in police officers, Dr. Czeisler says.

One of the departments that participated in the survey, the Massachusetts State Police, had lower rates of sleep disorders and obesity than the study population as a whole, perhaps because the department pegs pay increases to fitness testing, provides a gym in every barracks, and offers one hour of paid exercise time on every shift.

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