Cedar Rapids police officers just gave up beloved 12-hour shifts: New chief's Fla. department just adopted them

In passing this week, Cedar Rapids' new police chief, Greg Graham, was asked some basic facts about the department he is leaving in Ocala, Fla.

It has 250 employees, including 160 sworn officers; Cedar Rapids' department has 258 employees, including 201 sworn officers.

Ocala has a population of about 52,000; Cedar Rapids, about 125,000.

An influx of people into Ocala during the workday is why the size of the Police Department there is proportionately larger per population than the Cedar Rapids department, Graham suggested.

As for the shift schedule of police officers, Graham reported that the Ocala department had just moved its officers to 12-hour shifts.

"At my urging," he said.

This has to be music to the ears of Cedar Rapids' street officers, who by and large loved the 3-day work week with 12-hour days. The city changed to 4-day, 10-hour days for street officers in January.

Graham noted that what might be good for Ocala wouldn't necessarily be good for Cedar Rapids and vice versa. But he said, too, that he open to "a new airing" of matters at what he said was already a good Cedar Rapids department.

The hometown paper, The Ocala Star-Banner, said nice things today about Graham.

Go to this address to see:

 http://www.ocala.com/article/20080514/NEWS/805140321/1025/NEWS&title=OPD_s_Graham_takes_Iowa_job

Also, see a Gazette story on last summer's City Hall decision to move from 12-hour to 10-hour police shifts:

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070810/NEWS/70810004&SearchID=73317731865355