"Sleep disorders plague police officers; State Police fare better than most" by Deborah Kotz | Globe Staff, December 20, 2011
While sleep disorders plague many Americans, police officers may fare worse than others, according to a new Brigham and Women’s Hospital study that found 40 percent have a chronic sleep problem, which in most cases had not been diagnosed.
The national study published yesterday found that 26 percent of the officers reported that they fall asleep driving at least once a month because of excessive drowsiness.
Massachusetts State Police officers, however, had markedly lower rates of sleep problems such as obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, and shift work sleepiness - most likely, the researchers said, because of a mandatory fitness test they must pass every two years to hold onto their jobs.
The researchers took into account other factors that could cause psychological problems like having a second job, alcohol consumption, and total number of hours worked....
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Look who else is asleep on the job:
"Efforts intensify to solve killings; City police may add to squads" by Maria Cramer Globe Staff / December 30, 2011
The Boston Police Department plans to bolster homicide squads in the coming year and examine the way it investigates killings in an effort to combat one of the city’s most intractable problems: the painfully slow rate at which most slayings are solved.
The plan is not finalized, but an initial proposal calls for each homicide squad, which is now made up of two detectives and a sergeant, to be beefed up by two more investigators and to be supervised more closely by commanders. Detectives from the drug and gang units would regularly be called to crime scenes to help.
In addition, DNA specialists who study forensic evidence at crime scenes would receive more intensive training, and the Secret Service would be asked to help retrieve phone records more quickly.
The homicide squads will receive the extra resources for 18 months. Then, analysts plan to compare the department’s clearance rate - the proportion of cases in which a suspect is arrested or identified in an arrest warrant - to previous years. They will also compare Boston’s success rate to that of other cities to determine whether the additional manpower helped investigators close more cases more rapidly....
“For the next year we’re going to be really focused on the issue of shootings and homicides,’’ Commissioner Edward F. Davis said in interview. “I really want to try and work on holding people accountable for it.’’
Wasn't that supposed to be, like, the main thing in the first place?
The city is launching the initiative amid a dip in overall violent crime....
The latest effort to improve the city’s clearance rate does not have a budget yet, but Davis said the department would dip into $2 million saved in 2010 through reductions in overtime to cover the costs.
Weren't cops laid off last year?
A $500,000 grant from the Department of Justice will bolster the effort....
When crime is going down?
Despite the changes, the percentage of homicides solved by Boston detectives has lagged....
WTF?
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Maybe this explains it:
Boston Cops Take Bong Hits
No wonder they are cruising the strip, busting brothels, hanging out in bars, buying drugs, and worrying about cellphones while ROBBERIES, RAPES, and MURDERS go UNSOLVED!!!
