RGP and GPA sign collective agreement on shifts

Commissioner of Police Eddie Yome and the Chairman of the Gibraltar Police (Staff) Association, Henry Bautista yesterday signed a collective agreement that ratifies the change from the current “Four-Shift” operating system to a new “Five-Shift” operating system.

An RGP press statement said an accompanying restructure would see front-line operational officers now distributed into five (previously four) teams operating 24/7, with overlaps of resources during previously identified key periods of demand.

A spokesperson said the RGP’s current shift pattern has been in place for over 30 years, and both parties had agreed that the current shift pattern arrangements were negatively impacting on both officer working conditions and RGP’s uniformed operations service delivery.

The spokesperson added that after jointly exploring and researching various options during a process lasting almost two years, including extensive research and analysis of existing operational demands, the new arrangements implemented yesterday, were assessed to provide the appropriate balance between meeting RGP operational demands and an improved work-life balance for front line operational officers.