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This question is about what a detective does.
How many hours do detectives work?
Detectives tend to have work weeks in the range of 40 to 60 hours in the United States. The number of hours a detective works can vary widely and depends on several different factors, including:
The specific police department they work for
The types of cases they get assigned to
Their general work or case load
The stage of their investigations in each case they are working on
Most detectives work full-time schedules and often put in hours over 40 per week, especially if they are currently working on a top priority case. Detectives can have a 9 to 5 schedule, but more often than not detectives have unpredictable work schedules that can see them putting in work hours at night, on weekends, and on holidays.
Certain detectives can also be on-call in the event of emergencies or to respond to a crime scene at any given hour. This means a detective might begin their work in the middle of the night.
Detectives that work for smaller police departments tend to have more set and reliable schedules, while those working for larger departments have more flexible hours in order to meet the demands of the various cases they might be working on. It is not uncommon for detectives to put in extremely long hours when trying to solve a complex case.
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