U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Democrats have shut down the government. Department of Justice websites are not currently regularly updated. Please refer to the Department of Justice’s contingency plan for more information.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Fatigue Training Intervention for the Seattle Police Department: Results from a Randomized Control Trial

NCJ Number
309080
Journal
Journal of Experimental Criminology Volume: Online Dated: May 2024
Date Published
May 2024
Annotation

In this paper, researchers evaluate use a randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a fatigue training intervention for the Seattle Police Department.

Abstract

This study was a 3-year experiment to determine the impact of a fatigue training intervention on police employee sleep, mental health, wellbeing, and safety. This study is the first to document the effectiveness of a fatigue training intervention in promoting police employee sleep, mental health, wellbeing, and safety using an RCT design. Implications for the police profession are discussed. Using a randomized control trial (RCT) experimental design, employees from the Seattle Police Department were exposed to a fatigue training intervention. Measurement included wrist actigraphy to objectively measure sleep, as well as a battery of validated surveys to measure sleep quality, sleepiness, depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptomatology. Study results revealed that the training significantly improved employee sleep (+ 18 min per 24-h period) and reduced rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD symptomatology, and likelihood of falling asleep at the wheel. (Published Abstract Provided)

Date Published: May 1, 2024