Police Shift Schedules Explained: 4-on-2-off, Pitman (2-2-3), and Rotating Patrol

Ask three officers what schedule they work and you can get three different answers — "four-and-two," "two-two-three," "five-eights on a rotating line" — and if you've never worked a patrol schedule, none of that says much about what a month actually looks like.

Here's the honest version up front: there's no single "police schedule." Departments build rotations around agency size, coverage needs, and the contract, so they land in one of a few shift-length families (8, 10, or 12 hours) with a rotation stacked on top. What follows is how the common ones are built. Your exact line, your hours before overtime, and how days rotate all come from your own department and CBA — so treat this as a map, not a rulebook.

The three shift-length families

Almost every patrol schedule starts with one decision: how long is a shift?

• 8-hour shifts — the traditional setup. More days worked, shorter individual shifts, three watches a day (days / evenings / nights). Often paired with a 5-on/2-off week.
• 10-hour shifts — four 10s a week is popular because it gives an extra day off while keeping overlap between watches for briefings and busy hours.
• 12-hour shifts — fewer days at work, longer days, and only two shifts needed to cover 24 hours (a day crew and a night crew). This is where the Pitman and similar rotations live.

None of these is automatically "better." They trade shift length against how many days you're commuting, and how your off days clump together.

4-on / 2-off

A six-day cycle: four days on, then two off, and the pattern repeats. Because six doesn't divide evenly into a seven-day week, your days off drift — this week they're Wednesday–Thursday, a couple weeks later they're on the weekend, then they roll again.

That drift is the whole trade. You will get some weekends, but on a schedule, not on the calendar everyone else uses. For a lot of officers the four-on stretch is short enough to stay recoverable, and the steady two-off keeps arriving without a long dry spell.

Pitman (2-2-3), with 12-hour shifts

If you work 12s, there's a good chance it's some version of the Pitman, also written 2-2-3. Over a two-week cycle a squad works: 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. Four squads rotate through it so two crews cover days and two cover nights, keeping the clock filled.

Two things officers tend to like about it:

• You never work more than three days in a row.
• Every other week you get a three-day weekend — the same three days each fortnight, so it's predictable enough to plan around.

The catch is the 12-hour day itself, and — on many versions — rotating between day and night blocks, which is hard on sleep. (If you're fighting that rotation, our shift-work sleep guide walks through anchoring your sleep across the flip.)

5-8s and the rotating line

The classic 5-on / 2-off with 8-hour shifts is still around, often on a rotating line: you spend a set number of weeks on days, then rotate to evenings, then to nights (a "slow" rotation of several weeks), or you flip faster. Seniority usually decides who gets to hold a steady watch and who rides the rotation.

Rotating shifts are the hardest on your body clock, because "when I sleep" keeps changing. The upside is coverage fairness — the tough overnight watches get shared instead of dumped on the newest officers forever.

Where court days fit in

Here's the part civilian schedule guides always miss: your day off isn't always a day off. Subpoenas and court appearances land on the calendar independent of your rotation, so a scheduled off day can turn into a court day — sometimes with a wildly inconvenient start time right after a night shift. It's one of the reasons patrol officers get so protective of the off days they do control, and why "what does your week look like" is never a simple answer.

The honest summary

The "best" schedule is really about the life you want around the job — long breaks you can travel on, or a steadier week you can build a routine on. What matters is knowing which one you're actually on, and being able to see your real days months ahead instead of decoding a rotation chart every time someone asks if you're free.

That last part is exactly what a shift calendar is for: set your rotation pattern once, and let the months build themselves — court days and all.

General information, not legal or workforce advice. Your department's policy, general orders, and collective bargaining agreement set your actual rotation, hours before overtime, and how court time is paid.