Alone or with a partner(s)?

[CorpSec Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CorpSec]

First off, how many officers work a single person post versus those that work with at least one partner? And, which do you prefer?

I currently work with anywhere from 2 to 4 other people, but have worked single officer posts in the past. I can see advantages of both.

I think the shift goes a lot faster when you have some good company. Although, if your partner(s) is/are a load, it can make things rocky. I like the officer safety aspect of working with partners.

[Lawson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lawson]

First off, how many officers work a single person post versus those that work with at least one partner? And, which do you prefer?

I currently work with anywhere from 2 to 4 other people, but have worked single officer posts in the past. I can see advantages of both.

I think the shift goes a lot faster when you have some good company. Although, if your partner(s) is/are a load, it can make things rocky. I like the officer safety aspect of working with partners.

I currently work a 2 person scheduled post. I say two person scheduled because while there are supposed to be 2 people on, we can operate with just 1 if someone calls in sick.

I like having someone there, but I am in more enjoyment just knowing someone is there. I dont always like to have someone breathing over my neck. My favorite posts are ones with more than one person where both people are free to operate as they please. Where they can both patrol, and one person can back up the next, rather than having one patrol and one be stationary while they switch off.

I also like posts that have max and min staffing like we have now. If someone calls in sick for dayshift, just as long as the next person shows up, both of graveyard can leave. Ive worked posts with mandatory 2 man coverage, so if someone showed up and the other was late, you had to flip a coin to see who gets to go home and who does not.

[FederalSecurity Member Find all posts View Profile Close FederalSecurity]

BHR Lawson, have you ever worked a site where two or more officers could

operate freely without predetermined duties (as they please)? I'm just asking

because I like the sound of that. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

I work in a team situation with predetermined posts and duties. I suppose

it's not too bad.

[bigdog Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigdog]

I work on a one man post.

[EMTGuard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close EMTGuard]

Two man post here. One regular unarmed SO and one SO with EMT medical certification. SO does the usual patrols and stuff. SO/EMT mans the desk, catches the switchboard duties, keeps up with the log book and any paperwork and, when needed, responds to medical related incidents on the property.

[Lawson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lawson]

BHR Lawson, have you ever worked a site where two or more officers could

operate freely without predetermined duties (as they please)? I'm just asking

because I like the sound of that. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

I work in a team situation with predetermined posts and duties. I suppose

it's not too bad.

Yes, actually where I work now, you dont have any prescheduled duties at all, all you have to do is make sure one of you makes a trip outside every hour. So if your partner is a smoker, you have that covered easily. Where I work, you can be a proactive force if you want, but you can also be completely reactive taking only security calls and whatnot.

In the past Ive only done one other 2 man post where both of us were free to roam. This was in Louisiana. We were both free to move about an energy site as we wanted, if you wanted to go into the food shack and make a sandwich, if you wanted to go walk out toward the Gulf Coast or the Mississippi River, if you wanted to make rounds, look through the local rubble, do your laundry, etc... you were pretty much free to do what you wanted when you wanted.

[CorpSec Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CorpSec]

We rotate through desk posts, patrol, and the dispatch center. I believe that variety is the spice of life and keeps the officers sharper.

The worst posts are the one man control room posts. I have friend that works one of those and I don't know how he does it. You are tied to the phone and alarm computer for 8 to 12 hours at a pop. I am way too claustrophobic for that. You literally have to run to the bathroom. No thanks.

[SecTrainer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SecTrainer]

Seems like whether having a partner is good or bad depends so much on the partner, both in terms of whether he's competent and whether you get along well. As a cop, I had good 'uns and bad 'uns, and there's no time that's longer or space that's smaller in the world than spending a shift in a squad with a noncompatible partner or one who has a "pet subject" like NASCAR, his kids, stamp collecting, or something else that he talks about for 8 straight hours and drives you bats.

And, there's nothing scarier than having a partner you're just not sure about when the shat hits the fin.

[Chimpie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chimpie]

I used to work at an automobile manufacturing plant. The bare minimum number of officers working at any one time was six, and that was because of a holiday. On weekends we usually had 8 or 9. During the week we could have as many as 12-15 on at a time.

[flashlightcop509 Member Find all posts View Profile Close flashlightcop509]

Where I work, we have overlapping shifts; I am never without backup unless stuff happens after 4 a.m. when the 2nd Officer leaves (even then we have another Officer nearby who can respond in 5-8 minutes)...

The way my site shifts run;

1st Officer on duty: 1600 - 0200
2nd Oficer on duty: 1800 - 0400
3rd Officer on duty: 2000 - 0600

I don't patrol with a "partner" per se, unless I'm training a new Officer for a few days ride along, but during the busiest times of the shift, Officer backup/assistance is mere seconds away at times...

[Lawson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lawson]

The worst posts are the one man control room posts. I have friend that works one of those and I don't know how he does it. You are tied to the phone and alarm computer for 8 to 12 hours at a pop. I am way too claustrophobic for that. You literally have to run to the bathroom. No thanks.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

I had a post for a large warehouse where there we're two guards on duty. One in the control lobby and one in the gatehouse for inbound trucks. If you were on lobby duty, you were stuck to a chair, some cameras, a couple phones, and a couple alarm boxes. It was one of the single most boring jobs I've ever had and eventually I had to bail on working that account as it was hard to stay awake for the 8 overnight hours.

The only thing that I used to do as the lobby S/O that was remotely interesting was to go through all the rooms and dig into every crevace and cranny looking for wrappers of product. On rare occassions an S/O might find where an employee has stolen something from inside and ditched the wrapper in the bathroom or a trashcan before doing the parcel check on the way out.


If you were the gatehouse S/O you could get out and do patrols of the truckyard, or drive around in the golfcart. You could also watch the lobby officer on camera and screw with them (especially if they were new) by using the computer program to mess with the locks on the nearby doors (which clicked really loudly).

[War113 Member Find all posts View Profile Close War113]

We are like erm 15 officers for one shift during daytime and 10 during night.

We got some static post and a couple of patrollers.

[Mall Director Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mall Director]

Well, with all the excitement and fun we have on a nightly basis, I mandated that Officers team up and patrol together. On the "hot" nights, its a violation to be caught patrolling by ones self.

Officers tend to work better when they have a partner, thinking power increases when decisions need to be made, different views of situations occurr, safety is increased, and resistance by other entities or individuals decreases when having to work around two officers as compared to one...

I could go on all day about the benefits!

[Christopherstjo Member Find all posts View Profile Close Christopherstjo]

On July 12, 2007, the KCPD announced it is giving very serious consideration to mandating that all police officers ride with a partner because there is too much risk, in KCMO, that police will be shot and killed.

Some private security companies, here in KCMO, are contemplating upon arming their s/o's with beanbag shotguns and some have begun advocating to have their s/o's carry AR's in their patrol vehicles. My employer is NOT among these companies.

What is clear, however, is that working with a partner is always a good idea when faced with the risks from extremely high crime communities.

[Guest Close OccamsRazor]

4 hours with 2 partners; 4 all by my lonesome.