Security during the upcoming COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen is under threat because police officers called in to guard VIPs and monitor demonstrations will be physically and psychologically exhausted, according to police representatives Politiken has interviewed.

Fears of exhaustion come following the dissemination of shift plans showing that officers will be working up to 16 hours per day for a full 14 days.

“These shifts are completely unreasonable and no-one can manage them. It means that we won’t have optimal safety during the summit – either in relation to participants or the general public,” says Northern Zealand Police Federation Chairman Tom Steffensen, adding that officers may make mistakes as a result of exhaustion.

Grotesque
“If the summit results in violent demonstrations and officers have had 14 night shifts in a row, it’s clear that some of them will perhaps have a low level of tolerance. The shift plans are grotesque,” says Funen Police Association Chairman Steffen Daugaard.

Jette Estoft, 52, is currently employed in the police licence section in Northern Zealand but has been told to don her uniform during the summit. She has 14 shifts in a row – almost all of them at 16 hours.

“If you haven’t slept enough for many days in a row, something is bound to go wrong,” she says.

Officers unhappy
The National Commissioner and the Police Federation have already agreed on overtime terms for officers during the summit, but actual shift plans have only now been made available to the 6,500 officers involved and have caused angry reactions.

“We didn’t think it would be necessary to have so many long shifts in a row,” says Police Federation Chairman Peter Ibsen.

Asked whether the shift plans were defensible Ibsen says: “ Only just – but they will manage it – otherwise we wouldn’t have agreed.”

Sleep expert disagrees
But a leading sleep expert disagrees.

“The shift plans for the summit are irresponsible. Officers won’t have a chance to rest and will become exhausted. That will affect their reactions and inevitably lead to mistakes. This can mean that officers will be endangering themselves and others,” says Chief Physician Søren Berg MD.

Working Authority
Although the overtime agreement was reached with the Police Federation this summer, the National Commissioner’s Office has had to apply for dispensation from rest period rules at the last minute, and has now applied to the Working Environment Authority.

“We thought that our agreement with the Federation was enough, but it isn’t,” says Deputy National Commissioner (Personnel) Lene Frank.