1). The Department shall maintain a permanent non-rotating shift schedule for all Command Officers. Shift selection shall be determined by seniority in rank among Sergeants and Lieutenants assigned to the affected Bureau or Section. In addition to the changes for training as per past practice, the Department may change a Command Officer’s permanent shift three shifts per year without paying a premium, provided the change has been posted in accordance with Section 2109.44 “Work Schedules” and not more than one change is made per month. Additional changes shall be paid at time and one half the regular rate for the hours changed. Captains, all Command Officers in Vice and Metro Drug Task Force may not select their permanent shifts.
2). The selection process shall be completed no later than November 15th of each year. The shift and district station selection process shall not be initiated prior to the announcement of each District Station Commander for the upcoming year. Lieutenants will then select their shift and district station and following that announcement the sergeants shall complete the shift and district station selection process. The assignments shall take effect no later than January 1st of each year. The T.P.C.O.A. shall make every effort to assist in the shift selection process.
3). When a vacancy occurs after the completion of the shift selection process but before September 1st and the Command Officers' Association has not been notified in advance of any status change of the vacancy, such vacancy shall be filled within thirty (30) days. The intent of this section is to provide an opportunity for a Command Officer to obtain a more desirable shift when a vacancy occurs prior to September 1st in a Section utilizing the shift selection process. In the event that there is no promotional list available when the vacancy occurs during the first nine (9) months, then the vacancy shall be filled through the bidding process not later than September 1st.
4). The Chief of Police shall have first selection and placement of no more than ten (10) Sergeants positions in the Field Operations Bureau. These ten (10) positions will be placed other than the day shift. The Chief of Police will make his shift assignments in Field Operations from those Sergeants, exempt from the shift selection process with the least seniority.
5). Permanent shift selection rights will not be applicable to newly promoted Sergeants in the Field Operations Bureau until they have three (3) complete years in grade. Command Officers in the Investigative Services Bureau shall not have shift selection rights until they have completed three (3) years supervisory experience in the Investigative Services Bureau, including supervisory experience in the Vice-Metro Section. For the purpose of this section of the agreement, time in grade and investigative supervisory experience shall be completed by December 31st of the year preceding the actual assignment.
6). It should be understood that due to the number of retirements and promotions, it will be necessary to transfer and reassign some Command personnel; however, these changes in assignment will not be used to change the shift hours of those Command Officers who selected their shift hours by seniority.
7). Once shift selection is completed, sergeants and lieutenants assigned to field operations (excluding administrative positions, mounted patrol, and traffic section) and who are not exempt from the shift selection process pursuant to subsections (4) and (5) in this section will then be preliminarily placed by seniority at a district station according to the preferences they submitted. After this preliminary placement is completed, the Chief of Police or his designee retains the right, at his sole discretion, to change the District Station Assignment of not more than 15% of the total number of the aforementioned sergeants and lieutenants who have permanent shift selection rights, for purposes of balancing experience, abilities and other relevant factors (fractions greater than one-half will be rounded up.) In determining the 15%, a change will only count if a Command Officer is given a lower preference than what his or her seniority would have entitled, (e.g., if a sergeant’s seniority would have entitled him to his first or second choice, and he is placed at his third choice, this would count as 1. If a sergeant gets his third choice by virtue of seniority, and the Chief places him at his first or second choice, this would not count.)
8). In the event 10% of the departmental sworn personnel are laid off and it is necessary to transfer or reassign some Command personnel, the reassignment and transfers will be conducted by the bid process. The reassignments and transfers will last for the duration of the layoff, at the end of which time the Command Officers will return to their previous assignment.
9). In the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack, the Chief of Police needs the flexibility to change the shift of an officer or officers in order to reasonably meet the needs of the Department and adequately respond to the natural disaster or terrorist attack. If the duration of the natural disaster or terrorist attack is in excess of 72 hours, the Chief shall have the right to change the shift of Command Officers to meet the Department's needs in responding to the natural disaster or terrorist attack. The changes may remain in effect for a maximum of 30 days, at which time, all Command Officers will return to the assignment they had prior to the natural disaster or terrorist attack.
Management retains the right, as recognized in Section 2109.30 “Vacancies”, to determine the number and levels of Command Officers needed at each District station on each shift.