Patrol Allocation Under Staff Shortage
A station has 9 officers available for a 12-hour night shift. Policy requires at least 2 officers on every mobile patrol and at least 1 officer at the front desk at all times. The shift is split into three 4-hour blocks. Block 1 needs 3 patrols running, Block 2 needs 2 patrols, and Block 3 needs 4 patrols because of a scheduled event. Each officer can work at most two consecutive blocks and must have at least one block of rest across the shift. The desk officer cannot patrol during the same block.
1. Determine whether the staffing requirement can be met. Show the officer-block count for each block and the total demand against supply.
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Demand per block, counting patrol officers plus 1 desk officer:
- Block 1: 3 patrols × 2 = 6, plus 1 desk = 7 officer-blocks.
- Block 2: 2 patrols × 2 = 4, plus 1 desk = 5 officer-blocks.
- Block 3: 4 patrols × 2 = 8, plus 1 desk = 9 officer-blocks. Total demand = 7 + 5 + 9 = 21 officer-blocks.
Supply: 9 officers, each able to work at most 2 blocks = 18 officer-blocks maximum.
21 > 18, so the requirement cannot be met as written. Block 3 alone needs all 9 officers, leaving no one rested and no capacity carried from earlier blocks. The shortfall is at least 3 officer-blocks, and realistically more because rest rules limit consecutive working.
2. Propose the most defensible adjustment and justify it, given that Block 3 involves a scheduled event.
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Block 3 is fixed by the event, so protect it: assign 8 patrol officers (4 pairs) plus 1 desk officer. That uses all 9 people in Block 3, which means no one can also work Block 2 if the rest rule is to hold - so Block 2 must be covered by officers who worked Block 1 and then rest, or by adjusting patrol numbers.
A workable plan: Block 1 staffed by 7 officers (6 patrol + 1 desk), leaving 2 officers rested. Block 2 drops to 2 patrols using the 2 rested officers plus 1 desk drawn from someone finishing Block 1 - but that person then cannot work Block 3. Since Block 3 needs everyone, the cleanest answer is to request reinforcement or reduce Block 2 to 1 patrol plus desk, and to formally record the shortfall to the supervisor.
Justification: the event is predictable and safety-critical; the shortage is structural, not a failure of the officers. The correct professional response is a documented escalation with a workable interim plan, not silent under-staffing.