You work for a police department that is seriously understaffed and relies heavily on officer overtime to pick up the slack. At least two of your colleagues worked over 100 overtime hours last month. You also worked plenty of overtime and have come to enjoy the extra income, but you are also becoming deeply concerned the amount of time you work is compromising your ability to be an effective police officer. One of your fellow officers crashed his car on the way home the other night and you are convinced it would not have happened but for his fatigue. Your chief is supportive of the overtime and essentially requires it, but you feel something needs to be done.

Write an essay on the ethics of working excess hours when evidence suggests prolonged fatigue threatens one’s judgment and alertness. In doing so, answer these questions: How much of a threat to effective police work is fatigue? How much overtime is too much? Why? What could be done to address the situation depicted in the scenario? If the chief is supportive of the overtime policy and you as the officer are not, what can you do? Should you go above the chief’s head? Why or why not? In the event you did, what potential fallout could result?