To be fair, the activities that bookend your shift are usually fairly standardized. I would get to the station about an hour early and start the process of dressing out. First I checked the polish on my boots to make sure they’d pass sergeant’s inspection, which occurred unannounced every couple of weeks. I then dressed out and went to the briefing room.
In the briefing room, there was usually a daily digest of what had gone on in the last 24 hours regarding critical incidents, notifications from surrounding agencies, missing person reports, and added patrol requests. Our lieutenant (or sergeant acting as lieutenant) would then come in and conduct briefing, which typically consisted of a fleshed out version of the digest plus additional information that had come to light since the digests had been printed. He or she would then distribute subpoenas for squad members and dismiss us to load our vehicles out.