We’ve lined up our top 7 picks of the best police scheduling software that will make creating your police officer schedule a simple task.
Police departments face many personnel scheduling obstacles that civilian office managers will never have to deal with. From juggling 24-hour scheduling needs and complying with minimum staffing requirements to unavailable staff due to court appearances or special duty assignments–manual police officer scheduling can be an absolute headache.
And while police scheduling software can be somewhat of a digital pill for this headache, many tools are outdated, complicated, or downright impossible to use.
We’ve researched and lined up 7 of the best law enforcement scheduling software tools to help you turn your officer scheduling into an effortless, straightforward, and efficient operation.
If you don’t have the time to read through our research, jump down to our quick comparison table.
Our Top Picks
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Best all-in-one police scheduling software solution for creating and managing your police work schedule
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Good law enforcement scheduling software solution for limiting overtime
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Good scheduling software solution for meeting minimum staffing requirements
Why trust us?
Our team of unbiased software reviewers follows strict editorial guidelines, and our methodology is clear and open to everyone.
See our complete methodology
25
Tools considered
16
Tools reviewed
7
Best tools
chosen
What to Look For in a Police Scheduling Software Tool
When looking for a good law enforcement scheduling software solution, keep an eye out for the following features:
- Ease of use: It’s easy to set up and offers an intuitive user experience.
- Customizability: It’s customizable to suit your team structures.
- Insert availability: Your employees can insert their availability and time-off requests.
- Scheduling: You can easily schedule your employees according to their availability and share your police officer schedule directly with your team. Ideally, law enforcement software also allows you to create templates for or copy schedule patterns.
- Manage qualifications: You can enter your employees’ qualifications and only schedule your employees for jobs they are qualified for.
- Manage open shifts: You can create open shifts for your employees to claim.
- View inconsistencies: It highlights any errors, such as when an employee’s scheduled shifts exceed the number of permitted work hours or when multiple employees are assigned to a single shift.
- Integration options: The law enforcement software integrates with your other related software, such as time clock or payroll software, or includes these capabilities.
- Price: It is cost-friendly and suits your budget.
- Support: It comes with good customer support to help you with any issues.
The 7 Best Police Scheduling Software Tools of 2024
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Connecteam — Best All-in-one police scheduling software solution.
Connecteam offers a versatile police scheduling app that is both intuitive and efficient.
Why I chose Connecteam: Police departments of any size can leverage this app to streamline their scheduling processes and digitize traditional paper-based systems.
But let’s delve into how Connecteam not only assists in team management but also significantly improves the overall operations of a police department.
Streamline and Simplify Police Scheduling
Connecteam’s employee scheduler allows for the easy digitalization and automation of scheduling processes, reducing time spent on manual scheduling. This is vital for police departments where quick response and efficient manpower allocation are crucial. Through its user-friendly interface, administrators can swiftly create and modify schedules, ensuring maximum efficiency.
Whether it’s a patrol officer’s shift or a special task force deployment, Connecteam helps in ensuring that schedules are managed effectively, aligning with departmental needs and compliance requirements.
🧠 Did You Know?
Connecteam integrates with Google Calendar so your employees can transfer their shifts right from the app into their personal calendars on their phones.
Ensure Shift Coverage and Accountability
In policing, ensuring that all shifts and duties are adequately covered is essential. With Connecteam, you can digitalize all critical schedules and attach shift-specific tasks directly from the employee schedule, ensuring that no detail is overlooked.
Officers can acknowledge their shifts and tasks, providing managers with real-time updates on shift coverage and personnel availability.
Efficient Shift Management Tools
Connecteam’s scheduling tool enables administrators to create tailored schedules for officers and support staff. Supervisors can use custom templates and then distribute them instantly. The platform also allows for the management of time-off requests and shift preferences, preventing scheduling conflicts.
Moreover, specific tasks and roles can be assigned for each shift, visible to officers as soon as they check their schedules.
Time Clock with Location Tracking
Connecteam’s employee time clock is especially useful for police departments. Officers can clock in and out with a simple tap, and a full view of active personnel is available for command staff. The GPS-enabled time clock also ensures accountability and can be crucial for operational security and efficiency.
At the end of the pay period, Connecteam automatically generates timesheets for payroll, streamlining the administrative process and reducing errors.
Onboard and Train Officers Efficiently
Efficiently onboard new recruits or update current officers on new protocols with Connecteam’s employee training software. Create customized training programs with documents, videos, and quizzes, accessible directly from officers’ smartphones. Supervisors can track progress and ensure compliance with departmental training requirements.
Centralize Important Documents and Information
Connecteam’s knowledge base is a central repository for all essential documents, such as training materials, policy manuals, and safety information. Accessible from anywhere, this feature ensures that officers have immediate access to vital information, reducing dependency on physical documents.
Enhance Internal Communication
Communication within a police department is streamlined with Connecteam’s integrated online team chat and employee newsfeed. Share updates, coordinate operations, and provide quick access to contact information through the employee directory.
Streamlined Payroll and HR Processes
With all hours tracked and organized on digital timesheets, review and management of work hours, overtime, and leave become more efficient. Timesheets can be locked to prevent unauthorized changes, and payroll can be processed seamlessly through integrations with accounting software or directly exported to Excel.
And So Much More…
In addition to these features, Connecteam offers exemplary customer support, a user-friendly interface, robust workforce management tools, and complete customization to fit any police department’s needs.
Connecteam’s paid plan is budget-friendly, starting at just $29 per month for up to 30 users, with a free plan available for smaller departments. This makes it an accessible and practical solution for police scheduling and workforce management.
Connecteam also offers a free for life plan – Try Connecteam here!
Key Features
Collaborative employee scheduling
In-shift attachments (notes, images, videos, and links)
Weekly templates for recurring shifts
Automated overtime and limitation alerts
Training scheduler with attendance tracking
Real-time notifications and alerts
Daily tasks and checklists
Pros
Easy to use
Quick to implement
Top notch customer service
Mobile, desktop, and kiosk access
Feature rich
Cons
No automated scheduling
Pricing
Free-for-life plan availablePremium plans start at $29/month for 30 users
Best All-in-one Police Scheduling Software Solution
Start Scheduling Your Team -
ScheduleAnywhere — Good for: Maintaining staffing levels under requirements.
Available on
- Web
- iOS
- Android
ScheduleAnywhere is an employee scheduling software that aims to help businesses cut time spent on scheduling by up to 75%.
For the industry of public safety, ScheduleAnywhere services 911 dispatch, campus safety, fire departments, sheriff’s departments, community policing, and so on. This law enforcement software allows you to limit overtime, avoid using pen and paper spreadsheets for your police schedule, copy rotations, copy schedule patterns, and much more. Everything is managed in real-time and the schedule is accessible from anywhere, at any time.
Key Features
- Automated scheduling
- Alerts and notifications
- Messaging
- Reporting
- Overtime calculation
- Vacation/leave management
Pros
- Desktop, mobile, kiosk access
- Good customer service
- Easy to use
Cons
- Users report the mobile app has some bugs
Pricing
Starts at $25/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No
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InTime — Good for: Eliminating double-bookings.
Available on
- Web
- iOS
- Android
- Windows
- Mac
InTime is a workforce scheduling software that aims to help public safety agencies boost productivity, lower costs, ensure compliance, and minimize risk.
With it, you can gain visibility on agency-wide schedules and quickly edit police schedules. Either via desktop or a mobile app, InTime allows you to split shifts, handle shift changes, recognize overtime, meet minimum staffing requirements, and more from a single place. Additionally, you have access to time tracking and extra duty features.
Key Features
- Automated scheduling
- Clock in/out
- Customizable reports
- Employee database
- Messaging
- Vacation/leave management
Pros
- Feature rich
- Desktop, mobile, kiosk access
- Good customer service
Cons
- Users report it can be difficult to use
Pricing
Contact vendor for price Trial: Yes Free Plan: No
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Snap Schedule 365 — Good for: Automating shift callouts.
Snap Schedule is a police and law enforcement scheduling software that aims to help businesses save time and money, enhance productivity, and improve employees’ work-life balance.
With it, you can create conflict-free schedules based on your employees’ submitted availability and preferences, as well as their skills and positions. It also allows you to schedule tasks and breaks, automate shift callouts, and sum up labor costs based on employees’ planned work hours. Snap Schedule also signals overtime so you can make adjustments as needed.
Key Features
- Automated scheduling
- Employee management
- Online time clock
Pros
- Easy to use
- Desktop, mobile, kiosk access
Cons
- Poor customer service
- Expensive
Pricing
Starts at $450/scheduler/year Trial: Yes — 30-day Free Plan: No
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VCS Software — Good for: Setting staff shortage notifications.
Available on
- Web
- iOS
- Android
VCS Software offers a POSS solution for police agencies, sheriff’s offices, security organizations, and campus police as a single solution for all your scheduling, time tracking, electronic time cards, and payroll needs.
The law enforcement software allows you to coordinate and streamline your officer scheduling with numerous features, including rotating and fixed schedules, staff shortage notifications, and shift substitution and trades. You can also manage overtime by automatically granting or denying overtime based on specific set requirements.
Key Features
- Automated scheduling
- Employee database
- Equipment tracking
- Employee management
- Facility management
- Messaging
- Online time clock
Pros
- Good customer service
Cons
- Only mobile access
- Difficult to use
Pricing
Starts at $6.25/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No
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eSchedule — Good for: Managing open shifts.
Available on
- Web
eSchedule is another great police officer schedule software solution that aims to help public safety institutions speed up the scheduling process.
With eSchedule you can quickly create and share schedules for police officers and volunteers. Employees can set their availability, select open shifts, and add absence requests. Real-time notifications ensure that your police officers and volunteers are always up-to-date. Any shift changes, swaps, open shifts, or time off changes will generate automated notifications, so all police officers and volunteers are in the loop.
Key Features
- Automated scheduling
- Messaging
- Online time clock
- Vacation/leave management
- Payroll management
Pros
- Mobile access
Cons
- Top notch customer service
- Users report the software is difficult to use
Pricing
Starts at $100/month Trial: No Free Plan: No
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Vector Solutions — Good for: Identifying employee fatigue.
Available on
- Web
- iOS
- Android
- Windows
- Mac
Vector Solutions is a law enforcement and police scheduling software solution that aims to drive safer, smarter, and better decision-making in the world’s most critical industries.
With this law enforcement software, you can manage and gain insight into your staff’s schedules on-the-go. It also helps you comply with regulatory mandates by defining limits, buffers, and rest periods. In addition, they offer other software services at an extra cost, such as training and onboarding, evaluation, and equipment and inventory management.
Key Features
- Alerts and notifications
- Employee scheduling
- Task management
- Learning and training
- Communication
Pros
- Good customer service
- Mobile access
Cons
- Users report some features are difficult to use
Pricing
Contact vendor for price Trial: Yes Free Plan: No
Compare the Best Police Scheduling Software Tools
| Topic |
Start for free
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews |
  |
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N/A
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| Pricing |
Starts at just $29/month for the first 30 users
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Starts at $25/month
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Contact vendor for price
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Starts at $450/scheduler/year
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Starts at $6.25/user/month
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Starts at $100/month
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Contact vendor for price
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| Free Trial |
yes
14-day
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yes
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yes
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yes
30-day
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yes
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no
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yes
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| Free Plan |
yes
Free Up to 10 users
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no
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no
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no
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no
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no
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no
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| Use cases |
Best All-in-one police scheduling software solution.
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Good for: Maintaining staffing levels under requirements.
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Good for: Eliminating double-bookings.
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Good for: Automating shift callouts.
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Good for: Setting staff shortage notifications.
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Good for: Managing open shifts.
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Good for: Identifying employee fatigue.
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| Available on |
Web, iOS, Android
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Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac
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Web, iOS, Android
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Web
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Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac
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What Is Police Scheduling Software?
Law enforcement scheduling software is a digital tool meant to simplify and partially automate the process of creating and maintaining police work schedules and sharing these with their teams.
It gives managers good insight into important factors related to the scheduling process, such as their employees’ submitted availability and their qualifications for certain jobs, and helps reduce costly mistakes, such as double-booking an employee.
How Does Law Enforcement Scheduling Software Work?
Police scheduling software allows you to automate parts of the scheduling process depending on the software’s capabilities and your selected preferences. Such preferences can include a set weekly maximum of work hours, notifications for conflicts in the schedule, and claiming rights of shift openings.
Once you have created your police officer schedule, you can publish and share it with your team. It allows you to easily track developments, manage sudden changes, and update all relevant staff members.
Law enforcement scheduling software can also include integrations options with other related software, such as for time tracking, payroll, or even case management, or offer these features to streamline your processes.
What Are The Benefits of Using Police Scheduling Software?
As it stands, the employment of officers is expected to grow by 7% from 2020 to 2030, which further highlights the importance of making a stable and efficient police work schedule.
The main benefits of using law enforcement scheduling software include:
- Time-saving: It significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to create police work schedules by simplifying the entire scheduling process; no more having to reach out to employees about their availability or having to puzzle everyone into a fair and evenly divided schedule manually.
- Efficiency: It can make recommendations for staffing placement based on inserted data, such as your total number of employees, the number of assigned shifts, and the number of officers required for a certain job. Such recommendations can often also be linked to each of your police officers’ qualifications.
- Tracking capabilities: It allows you to keep track of the number of hours each employee works or spends on specific jobs and tasks, such as time allocated for meetings, training courses, and court appearances, and convert this data into reports.
- Manage changes: It helps you stay in the know of your team’s availability and avoid unaccounted absences. Police scheduling software allows officers to access their shift schedules from their cellphones and notify, as well as get notified directly when scheduling changes are needed.
- Reduce errors: It points out any errors before publishing the schedule, such as when an employee is scheduled for too many hours, which helps you reduce mistakes and comply with regulations.
How Much Does Police Scheduling Software Cost?
The pricing of law enforcement scheduling software largely differs per provider and often depends on the number of users and the feature package. It often ranges from $1,000-$75.000 per year. Particularly those that charge per user can get rather expensive if you’re working with a large team.
Note that high pricing does not necessarily equal a better user experience. Our number one pick, Connecteam, offers premium plans at a flat monthly rate of $39 for the first 50 employees.
FAQs
What time is shift change for police officers?
Every department is different, and there are several different ways in which you can set up your police work schedule.
The most common shift times for 8-hour shifts are:
- First shift: 07:00-15:00
- Second shift: 15:00-23:00
- Third shift: 23:00-07:00
The most popular shift times for 10-hour shifts are:
- First shift: 0600-1600
- Second shift: 1400-0000
- Third shift: 2200-0800
The two main shift times used for 12-hour shifts are:
- Day shift: 0600-1800
- Night shift: 1800-0600
and
- Day shift: 0700-1900
- Night shift: 1900-0700
How many hours do police officers work in a week?
Also this can differ per department.
Overall, a police officer’s schedule is made up of 35 to 40 hours per week, but police officers are generally expected to be on call at all times.
Are in-app messaging or communication features a necessary feature of scheduling software systems?
It’s not totally necessary, but it will definitely assist in the scheduling process. In-app messaging or communication features allow managers and employees to quickly get in touch with another colleague quickly and easily.
Furthermore, messages and phone calls on personal phones cannot be monitored, tracked, or saved — which can cause a lot of issues. With Connecteam’s law enforcement software, employees and managers can search for colleagues through the employee directory, get in touch with whomever they need, send images, GIFS, videos, and links, send targeted 1:1 messages, or reach the whole team with group messaging.
Wrapping Up A Police Officer Scheduling System
Creating an efficient police work schedule doesn’t have to be a manual and time-consuming process, especially when law enforcement scheduling software is available.
Through law enforcement scheduling software, you and your officers have real-time access to the police schedule, can avoid common errors with scheduling, employee time tracking, and payroll, can improve team efficiency and communication, and you have direct access for better accountability and visibility.
Our list of the best police schedule apps is a great starting point to save time, energy and money when creating your future police schedule.