Any police officer moms out there? Long
nic9911
member
Good morning. I'm Nic and brand new to the bump. I have a question if anyone has insight, but first I'll intro.
I'm 7 weeks pregnant. Dh and I started tying in march and this will be our first. We are super excited and are hoping for a healthy 9 months. I work as a police officer. h was working in a psych ward but he really hated it so he quit last month. We were going to lay off trying until something new came along for him, but in the interm I got a bfp. He obtained a new job before he left his old, however, his new employer did not get some of the contracts he expected, so now H works 1-2 days a week. Last week H had a job interview for a prison so we are hoping for that.
So where I work, I'll be the first female to have a baby in my department. We have only employed 3 females thus far and have no maternity/light duty policy currently. I told my employer that I was 7 weeks, which is early to tell, but I didn't want to surprise them at 20 weeks. My boss is now frantically developing a policy and assured me it will go as smooth as possible. So my concern, if you are a cop or know one, when is a good time to come off the street? My co workers think I should be off already. I was going to wait until 10 weeks when I go back to the dr. They are all concerned that something may happen and I could get my a$$ kicked. Where I work isn't too terrible but you never know. I have been here just short of 4 years and have been injuried twice, both times requiring ER visits. Sorry for he length, I just feel like I'm in uncharted waters and don't know female pregnant cops IRL. Thanks.
Re: Any police officer moms out there? Long
I work for a police department and they require you to be off the road as soon as you notify them of your positive result. (Most notify employer around 12 -14 weeks) You are then moved to light duty (desk duty / investigations / or dispatch depending on which department needs help or has a place)
Make sure you get your FMLA paper work ready. The women we have in our department have had issues with FMLA for some reason. So just a heads up to make sure you get that ball rolling as well.
Good luck, congratulations, and thank you for keeping the streets safe!
I'm a police officer in a pretty big department that doesn't have a set time where you have to be off the streets. I left the streets very late, I believe I was 4 months prego before I left the streets which is way late.
I was very luck but had many calls that could have turned out worse(including a foot pursuit). Plus going to court 8 months prego sucked and having craps head congratulate you on pregnancy is just plain wierd...
Your job will be there....If i had to do it again I would have left at 12 weeks....it's less stress and worry on you...
Plus, at my department I worked at specialty unit which allowed me to make some good contact .
My Lt. knew about me being prego when I was about 4 weeks because I got outed at a bbq by my area partner..
I hope that helps....
My nieces mother is a cop. They wanted her off the streets the second that she announced she was pregnant. If I remember correctly, she went to desk duty at 10 weeks after seeing her MD.No issues there, thankfully. She was just bored.
She did have issues returning and pumping. I know she wanted to pump after returning to work, but the guys kept making jokes that their back-up might be pumping if they needed her. GL!
If your job is good with you...I know that when I was on light duty they let me go to all my doctor's appointments without taking leave and I was able to do overtime and bank it as comp leave.
Which helped alot for baby leave because the department only gave me 80 hours of leave and then i had to use my own.
Also not sure what your shift is but our nite guys work 1930-630...if that's your shift go on light duty and get your sleep....
Generally we rotate a week at a time. 7-3; 3-11; and 11-7. It's pretty rough normally. Our light duty is rotating days and nights, so hopefully I will be taken off midnights. I worked mid last night and dealing w that population at 4 am is exhausting. The bar crowd and fights are pretty rough. I'm in NY so bars are open until 4.
I told my direct supervisor around 7 weeks and I officially told the department at 10 weeks after I heard the heartbeat. At that point I was put on light duty. The only reason I waited so long to tell the department is because I was assigned to a desk job at the time and was not regularly on patrol. Otherwise I would have told them immediately so that I would be given light duty.
If your coworkers don't trust you or want you responding to dangerous calls than you really shouldn't be on the street. You have to think about their well being as well as yours and your baby's.
I was the first to get KU in my department too and my pregnancy was taken as an "off the job injury" meaning that if there was light duty available then I would get it. It wasnt an issue for me because I already had a desk job.
I'm a patrol officer and my youngest dd is almost one. I came off the street at ten weeks because I was very sick, doc would have let me stay till sixteen weeks. The baby is behind your pelvice bone so even if you got into a fight the lo would be fine. I was involved in fights up until the week I got onto light duty, it was no problem.
Light duty: your employer does NOT have to provide it to you. However, if there have been officers that were hurt off duty in the past and they provided it to them, they should be able to provide it to you. If its considered a "prior practice" and then they don't give it to you, contact your POA rep. You might have a potential "discrimination" law suit on your hands.
For me personally, I would stay as long as you could. Especially considering admin is still trying to wrap their head around it. I wish I would have stayed longer (light duty blows) but I was frequently vomiting, on the street, in uniform; it wasn't pretty.
You can message me if you have questions, I'll try to keep checking this thread tho. GL and congrats
Thank you everyone for your input. It seems that departments either do one extreme or the other. We are still trying to work things out, but my dept was given 60 diferent policies, from within the county, that others use.
We do have light duty policy for work related injuries. I was actually on it last month whe I was attacked by a dog for a few weeks. It does blow. That being said I **hope/think** it will work out. I am looking at modified duty when the dr says so until its time, given 12 weeks FMLA, then take my personal/sick/vacation in any or all combinations, then If my body is ok back to the street when I go back to work. If not then back to modified until ready.
We have had one officer who was injuried off duty and granted light duty for a decent chunk of time. My understanding is they want an off duty injury policy established to bE able to have people come back to work if capable for light duty. If the city, bosses, and PBA accept than that is what should take place. They seem pretty supportive thus far, so I'm hoping for the best. Thanks again.
When I was pregnant with DS, I was on full time patrol. I worked until my the beginning of my 2nd trimester. My OBGYN felt that through my first trimester, my body offered enough protection.
I was involved in an altercation at about 10 weeks. Thankfully, I did require medical attention and was not injured very badly.
There was another female who also got pregnant at the same time I did. There was not a policy written at the time of our pregnancies either. They have since made one. We were placed in the jail, in no-inmate contact postitions. However, I worked the booking desk (computer entry), but was never alone with inmates. Most times there were at least 3 C/O's with me..
We were told that they would try to accomodate us, but there was no guarantee that we would be placed on light duty for the remainder of our pregnancies. I literally worried every day that I would come in and they would tell me that I would have to go out on FMLA.
Luckily, we did not and I worked until I was 36 weeks and put on bedrest.
I really prefer not to get pregnant again while working in law enforcement. At this time, DH and I have discussed me going back to school. We are just weighing all of our options.
Good luck to you.
Also, at one of the police departments in our area (I work for the Sheriff's Office), one of the officers worked until she gave birth.
Our agency does not have a policy as to when we have to go out. It's left up to us. Our new policy (as in it was made when I got pregant) is that the decision is left up to us, but that the agency will not create any positions for us, but if there are open positions we will be placed in them. If there are not any positions open we can work, then we have to start FMLA, which is only 12 weeks. If we run out of time, basically we can be let go.
Awesome to see so many law enforcement working moms on here! Just wanted to say thanks for keeping our streets safe and for setting such a great example for all of our daughters!
This exactly! I didn't expect so much feedback. It was extremely helpful
you should be off the street immediately, imo. i went light duty at 9 weeks and believe me, i didn't want anyone knowing that early (i told my job before i told some family).... but i personally would never risk it. perps spitting in your face, God forbid anything happened where you'd have to go on meds... it's just not worth it. it sounds like you work for a place willing to work with you on this, which is nice.
Good luck!!!
This was very helpful!! I'm also an police officer and expecting my 2nd. With my first I was in the detective bureau doing more desk work so it wasn't a huge issue. I now am on the road and I am struggling with when to tell my department. I found out last week that I'm pregnant and already found myself dealing with issues at work differently. A woman came at me the other day and instead of dealing with her how she should have been delt with, I retreated and other officers took her down. The area I work in is typically not violent but you never really know. I guess I'm writing this to talk myself into telling work and getting on light duty. Not only for me and my babies safety, but for the guys i work with. I know that is best, I just feel bad throwing this at my admin as we are already so short staffed. I also hate light duty as it is typically dispatch and 8 hour shifts compared to our 12 hours shifts. I like the 12 because I'm off more and can see my dh and son more.
Anyway, I went on enough. Glad to see so many of us ladies on here!! Stay safe and keep your babies safer
I'm a police officer at one of the largest agencies in the country. I can't put into words how horribly I've been treated since I came out. I really wish I would have kept my mouth shut until I started showing, but I let my hubby convince me to tell at 11 weeks. I was never in danger at work. I had a great spot in a public relations type assignment. As soon as I told, I was immediately moved to light duty status working midnights. I had numerous other divisions request my assistance including my old detective assignment. They wanted help with paperwork and basic follow up. They were told that my getting pregnant hurts manpower, and I'm not going to get "rewarded" with a cushy assignment for hurting my office. I've been told things like, "that's the price you pay for getting knocked up." or, "if you don't want to work midnights, you can be unemployed. We are not required to help you with your decision but we are choosing to."
I know you will find this hard to believe, but my agency recently lost a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit. Apparently, they don't learn!!!