7 Best Police Scheduling Software Tools in 2022

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And while police scheduling software can be somewhat of a digital pill for this headache, many tools are outdated, complicated, or downright impossible to use.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.

Our Top Picks:

1. Connecteam: Best all-in-one police scheduling software solution for creating and managing your police work schedule

2. ScheduleAnywhere: Good law enforcement scheduling software solution for limiting overtime

3. InTime: Good scheduling software solution for meeting minimum staffing requirements

What to Look For In a Police Scheduling Software Solution

When looking for a good law enforcement scheduling software solution, keep an eye out for the following features:

1. Ease of use: It’s easy to set up and offers an intuitive user experience. 
2. Customizability: It’s customizable to suit your team structures.
3. Insert availability: Your employees can insert their availability and time-off requests. 
4. Scheduling: You can easily schedule your employees according to their availability and share your police officer schedule directly with your team. Ideally, it also allows you to create templates for or copy schedule patterns.
5. Manage qualifications: You can enter your employees’ qualifications and only schedule your employees for jobs they are qualified for.
6. Manage open shifts: You can create open shifts for your employees to claim.
7. 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.
8. Integration options: It integrates with your other related software, such as time clock or payroll software, or includes these capabilities. 
9. Price: It is cost-friendly and suits your budget.

Support: It comes with good customer support to help you with any issues.

7 Best Police Scheduling Software Solutions in 2022

Connecteam is the best police schedule app, as reviewed by GetApp, Software Advice, Investopedia and more. The police schedule app is designed to increase efficiency, save time, make planning a breeze and so much more thanks to Connecteam’s advanced police schedule app features.

Eliminate messy pen and paper schedules with a police schedule app providing instant access to your paid workers and volunteers so they know when they’re scheduled and if shifts are available to claim. 

Your team can set their availability, request time off, and take on open shifts right from their mobile phone. Managers can approve or deny requests while on the go and employees instantly receive a notification on where their request stands. After everything is scheduled and logged, timesheets can be transferred onto payroll. With Connecteam’s integration with Quickbooks Online and Gusto, payroll is complete.

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

• GPS time clock

• In-app communication

• Daily tasks and checklists

• Digital forms and reports

Pros & Cons

• Easy to use

• Quick to implement

• Top notch customer service

• Mobile, desktop, and kiosk access

• Feature rich

• No automated scheduling

Pricing:

• Premium plans start at $29/month for the first 30 users.

• Free trial: 14-day free trial

• Free plan: Yes

For the industry of public safety, ScheduleAnywhere services 911 dispatch, campus safety, fire departments, sheriff’s departments, and so on. This 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 & Cons

• Desktop, mobile, kiosk access

• Good customer service

• Easy to use

• Users report the mobile app has some bugs

Pricing:

• Pricing starts at $25/month and increases depending on how many employees you need to schedule.

• Free trial: 30-day free trial

• Free plan: No

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 & Cons

• Feature rich

• Desktop, mobile, kiosk access

• Good customer service

• Users report it can be difficult to use

Pricing:

• No pricing is available on the website, so contact a representative to learn more.

• Free trial: Yes

• Free plan: No

SnapSchedule is built for police departments, a sheriff’s office, law enforcement, and any other public safety agency out there. It signals overtime and time lost so you can make adjustments as needed. 

Key Features:

• Automated scheduling

• Employee management

• Online time clock

Pros & Cons

• Easy to use

• Desktop, mobile, kiosk access

• Poor customer service

• Expensive

Pricing:

• Pricing depends on the number of schedulers and employees. For 1 scheduler and 50 employees, it costs $180/month.

• Free trial: 30-day free trial

• Free plan: No

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. 

Key Features:

• Automated scheduling

• Employee database

• Equipment tracking

• Employee management

• Facility management

• Messaging

• Online time clock

Pros & Cons

• Good customer service

• Only mobile access

• Difficult to use

Pricing:

• Plans start at $6.25/user per month.

• Free trial: Yes

• Free plan: No

eSchedule is another great police officer schedule software solution. With eSchedule you can quickly create schedules for police officers and volunteers. Employees can set 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 & Cons

• Mobile access

• Top notch customer service

• Users report the software is difficult to use

Pricing:

• Pricing is based on the number of users. For 31-60 users it costs $65/month.

• Free trial: 15-day free trial

• Free plan: No

Vector Solutions, another law enforcement and police schedule software solution, is good for managing schedules on-the-go, gives management better insights, automates communication, and tracks hours for payroll. 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 & Cons

• Good customer service

• Mobile access

• Users report some features are difficult to use

Pricing:

• You must request a demo in order to receive a price quote.

• Free trial: Yes

• Free plan: No

Read More: The Top Employee Scheduling apps in 2022

Compare the Best Police Scheduling Software:

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 a time clock or payroll, 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.

Frequently Asked Questions About Police Officer Scheduling Software

1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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, 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, 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.