Falling Asleep on Duty

[bubbagump]

Be honest...

I fell asleep during a graveyard shift and ran a red light at a photo enforced intersection. The camera's never went off, and luckily no one else was near the intersection.

One of my coworkers fell asleep during his C-7. The sarge walked in, saw him laid out on the couch in the break room, and didn't say anything till a couple days later.

He almost lost his job.

[nick]

I feel safer already

Not a LEO, but I fell asleep in the server room at the datacenter used by the company I worked for. With about 4000 servers running

[what2be]

It happens, but good lucking getting anybody to admit it, especially on here where LEO bashing is common.

A few weeks back I was partying with a friend at the lake who works for the S.O. and we were drinking till 2am, it was a 3hour drive for him to get to work, his shift that next afteroon. Im sure he was hurting when he got to work.

[Saigon1965]

Last I'd checked - We're all humans - We make mistakes - Hopefully learn from it -

More coffee for everyone -

[bubbagump]

It happens, but good lucking getting anybody to admit it, especially on here where LEO bashing is common.

A few weeks back I was partying with a friend at the lake who works for the S.O. and we were drinking till 2am, it was a 3hour drive for him to get to work, his shift that next afteroon. Im sure he was hurting when he got to work.

HAHA!

It happens alright!

I remember guys I worked with coming in at 0600 to relieve me looking like crap because they had partied all night. Other guys had two jobs, so they would only get 3 hours of sleep a day. The guys who went to school were also tired all the time. I was an hour-wh*re, so I was tired because I liked to work!

The worst shifts for me were mornings. I hated mornings. With a passion. I would work graveyards for the rest of my life if I was guaranteed no morning shifts.

The hardest thing to do was staying awake at court.

[bubbagump]

Last I'd checked - We're all humans - We make mistakes - Hopefully learn from it -

More coffee for everyone -

Thats where I became addicted to coffee, energy drinks, and meth (I kid, I kid).

[CSDGuy]

Not a LEO either... I'm a Paramedic. I readily admit that I've fallen asleep on duty. On the bench seat in the back of my ambulance. And at quarters. Never got any good sleep though. Name, unit call sign, or station tones would wake me up instantly. Many times, it would have been just as good to be awake all night...

I've never fallen asleep while working shifts that were less than 16 hours...

I have, however, heard of and seen the very occasional LEO conducting a headliner check...

[bubbagump]

Not a LEO either... I'm a Paramedic. I readily admit that I've fallen asleep on duty. On the bench seat in the back of my ambulance. And at quarters. Never got any good sleep though. Name, unit call sign, or station tones would wake me up instantly. Many times, it would have been just as good to be awake all night...

I've never fallen asleep while working shifts that were less than 16 hours...

I have, however, heard of and seen the very occasional LEO conducting a headliner check...

I noticed that I never had a hard time staying awake for the 12+ hour shifts...

It was always the regular 8 hour shifts while I was sick, or some other unknown cause...or court...court gave me the sleeps...

And the radio would always wake me up.

I had figured out a system when I just couldn't stay awake.

"TURBO NAPS"

I would find a straight strip of road with speed bumps about 10 seconds apart...I would let the unit creep...and the speed bumps would wake me up every 10-15 seconds to make sure I was still going straight, etc...

[ryang]

One of my coworkers fell asleep during his C-7.

The guy got yelled at for sleeping during his lunch?

[Blue]

Might be hard for the SJ cops to fall asleep since they're always at Starbucks.

[ilbob]

I worked many 3rd shifts while in school. That hour or so just before dawn was a tough time to stay awake. I would not blame anyone for nodding off, cop, paramedic, whatever. It is just a tough time to stay awake.

[Saigon1965]

Now this may be construed as bashing - But it's true -

We all get to take breaks -

Might be hard for the SJ cops to fall asleep since they're always at Starbucks.

[Ron-Solo]

There is a big difference between someone who nods off while working an extended shift and someone working graveyard who goes and finds a 'Bat Cave" every night. I've worked with a few of those and when we found them, we handled the problem.

As a supervisor I had a guy once who was working his graveyard shift and spending every day in court all day. He spent 5 straight days in court, all day long on a really big murder case. The fatigue factor became so great we sent him to the bunk room one night for about two hours as a safety issue. We knew where he was if we needed him, and he wasn't endangering anyone on the road.

[Glock Fan]

haha this is a great thread! I love hearing the stories! I have heard a few good ones myself. I dont blame any of them for a little power nap.

[tazmanian devil dog]

Not a LEO but work as an FAA armed guard at the airport tower at SFO. I can't tell you how much coffee I have to drink to keep from nodding off!!!! I own stock in Petes, Starbucks and Redbull!!!!!!!

Side note: If the FAA catches us even nodding off, we are terminated. Sucks huh?