| LAW AND ORDER: THE MAGAZINE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT December 1999 Managing Off-Duty Jobs: A Clear Policy is the Key to Success by Richard B. Weinblatt (pp. ) |
It was 1:20 in the morning when Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Sheriff's Department
Captain Kris A. Rahe received the phone call: "This is Captain Goode. Captain Stancil has
been killed. We need your help."
Captain Anthony Stancil had been shot while confronting a man who shoplifted $3.00 worth
of crab legs in a grocery store parking lot. He had been working an off-duty job.
"That incident made me more aware and served as a wake up call," recalled Mecklenburg
County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Holder. "I now pick and choose my secondary jobs more
carefully. I want more laid back jobs."
The Stancil shooting incident led Captain Rahe and his management colleagues to
re-examine the department's policies concerning off-duty jobs. Approaches to off-duty jobs
vary widely from agency to agency, ranging in issues from whether the department
coordinates the secondary source of income to whether the officer is covered if he or she is
injured. However, one facet remains constant throughout law enforcement: officers want the
extra money.
"Few chiefs or politicians will ban off-duty employment. The officers want it, and businesses
want it," explained Ron DeLord, president of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of
Texas (CLEAT), which represents 12,000 member officers in that state. He added that
off-duty work is extremely prevalent in Texas.
A tradition of off-duty employment, along with the presence of single income earners and
divorces, has ratcheted up officers' desire to bring home the extra dough. Correspondingly,
the demand for officers has often outstripped the supply. Some states, such as
Massachusetts, even mandate that off-duty officers be hired for traffic control when road
construction work is undertaken.
"The jobs are so plentiful that we have trouble getting them filled. An example is the
Charlotte Panthers games. We'll put in 30 deputies and the Charlotte Police puts in 30
officers," said Captain Rahe who coordinates secondary jobs for the Sheriff's Department
that has 352 sworn deputies. Rahe said the city's police department has more jobs than
they can fill and deputies call over there to pick some of them up.
Mecklenburg County can count some 20 deputy sheriffs working secondary jobs on
weeknights, and on weekend nights can see upwards of 100 deputies in a plethora of
Charlotte area businesses ranging from fast food establishments to truck stops. Sunday
mornings from 8:00 am until 11:00 am also have a lot of deputies working secondary jobs to
cover church traffic details.
DeLord and others cautioned that the area of off-duty jobs is fraught with civil liability
mine-fields. Those hazards are in addition to the physical danger such as what transpired
with Mecklenburg County's Captain Stancil.
"We had a situation where an officer who worked an off-duty job was sued. The department
said that they were not responsible and the business declared bankruptcy. We represented
the officer and ended up suing the department," DeLord recalled.
Some administrators find that the headaches outweigh the benefits. International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) vice president Joe Polisar, police chief in Garden
Grove, California, calls off-duty employment "an administrative nightmare" with large civil
liability aspects.
Officers in Garden Grove do not work uniformed off-duty jobs. They are allowed to engage
in non-job related activities with the exception of conflict forming pursuits such as the
installation of burglar alarms and process serving.
"Had I been approached to start an off-duty program here, I wouldn't have. The policy was
in place when I got here and I haven't been lobbied to change it," Polisar said. He added
that the Garden Grove officers and the community apparently did not feel that they needed
the option.
Polisar feels that the acceptance of off-duty jobs depends on the needs of the city. He
pointed to the situation of nearby Anaheim, California, which is home to Disneyland.
"Anaheim has enormous traffic issues to contend with and they have to have off-duty jobs
to handle them," he said.
Arranging the jobs
Most of the agencies interviewed indicated that they have strict policies governing their
officers on off-duty jobs. Many have a central person, such as Captain Rahe, who facilitate
the jobs.
Lieutenant Ed Kreins, executive officer of the Beverly Hills, California, Police Department,
said his high profile city of 33,000 wealthy residents coordinates the use of all officers who
engage in what is dubbed "special jobs." Organizations interested in hiring a Beverly Hills
police officer contact the watch commander or traffic division.
"We understand that officers need money. However, the area is so sensitive that a policy
must be in place," Kreins said.
Officers can work other jobs out of uniform and without a patrol car by applying to the
agency for an off-duty work permit. Many officers have undertaken other endeavors
ranging from bricklayer to security for Beverly Hills' rich and famous. The rate of
compensation is strictly between the off-duty officer and the contracting person or company.
However, if an officer is slated to be in the police uniform, departments are understandably
involved. Administrators routinely dictate what jobs may be worked and how they are
distributed among the troops.
Beverly Hills came up with what they say is a fair system that does not allow for favoritism.
They used to employ a first come, first served system but eschewed it for a process that
favors the officer with the least special jobs hours for the year.
"If an officer has had 100 jobs while a second officer has zero and ten jobs come in, the
officer with no jobs thus far will get all ten jobs. We want the jobs to be balanced," Kreins
explained.
The job opportunities in Beverly Hills are posted for a week so that the opportunity may be
viewed by all officers on the work schedule cycle. He elaborated that the old first come, first
served system erroneously favored the officers who were on day shift (when most of the
jobs would come in) at the expense of the night shift officers.
The Paramus, New Jersey, Police Department has two basic approaches to off-duty
employment. Deputy Chief Timothy Sullivan said that the community, located west of New
York City, has a large number of shopping malls and highway construction activity that
leads to plenty of extra work for their 96 full-time officers. The Bergen County municipality's
population of 29,000 swells to a quarter of a million people during the day and thus
necessitates more officers.
"Private entities may contract for an officer through the union or through individual officers
and they pay the officer directly. However, the officer may not wear a police uniform or use
a patrol car," Deputy Chief Sullivan said. The officers may wear black shirts and pants as
long as they do not say Paramus Police.
The second situation available to Paramus officers is traffic control duty initiated by the
Bergen County Department of Transportation (DOT) or the state. "We have a $600-$800
million construction project now that uses six officers in a 24 hour period," said Sullivan.
Paramus officers work 12-hour shifts, from seven to seven, and may work in uniform with
each man assigned to a marked fleet car. Sullivan said there are plenty of slots available
and uniformed troopers with the New Jersey State Police also work the traffic details.
Rahe serves as the clearinghouse and coordination point man for all secondary
employment stints for the Mecklenburg Sheriff's Department. He said he will computerize
the process in the near future. In addition to the agency fielding inquiries from businesses,
another route is available. A deputy can request to be the recruiting coordinator for a
business and set up the schedule for deputies working the location.
"This allows the deputy to put his buddies in there and, as the coordinator, he gets the best
hours," Rahe explained. The down side for the recruiting coordinator is that he is
responsible if the assigned deputy fails to show up for the assignment.
Working the jobs
Many departments have comprehensive policies covering the off-duty jobs. In Charlotte,
deputies must have been a certified officer for a minimum of one year prior to putting in for
secondary employment. Both Beverly Hills and Mecklenburg County indicated that they view
an officer not fulfilling an off-duty obligation the same as not showing up for duty at the
police agency.
"If an officer signs up for a special job and can't work it, it's his responsibility to fill it.
Otherwise, he is subject to discipline as if it was a duty assignment," Krein said.
Beverly Hills does allow its officers, who work three 12 ½ hour on-duty shifts, to use
compensatory time or vacation time if the job is approved and the shift is not at minimum
staffing levels.
In Mecklenburg County, forms have to be filled out detailing the nature of the job possibility.
Additionally, there are different rule sheets that have to be read and signed by managers of
apartment developments or alcohol establishments.
Rahe recalled being asked by a Charlotte apartment manager years ago to take on a host
of duties such as raising the flag in front of the complex. The policies of the agency today
prevent the use of deputies for anything but enforcement of laws. "Some businesses say no
when we explain that to them, but that's O.K. We can be picky," Rahe said.
The emphasis is on enforcing laws and not house rules. An establishment that serves
alcohol must have 60% of its sales made up of food or deputies are not allowed to work
there.
CLEAT's DeLord echoed the concern that Mecklenburg County and others agencies have
of misuse of officers on off-duty jobs. "When you are in a grocery store and take action
when a robbery occurs, you're enforcing the law and that's good. You should not be acting
as the establishment's errand boy," he said.
DeLord was aware of the important Constitutional issues surrounding public police handling
private employer matters, "Most agencies do not allow their people to work alcohol
establishments where they may be thrust wrongfully into the role of bouncer."
"We look very carefully at these forms to see who is requesting the deputy and what they
want him to do. Sheriff Pendergraph feels that our people are held to a high standard even
on secondary employment jobs," Rahe said.
If a job site becomes the source of a lot of arrests or use of force situations, Mecklenburg
County reexamines the request and sometimes amends the approval to require that two
deputies be hired to work. Any location with four or more deputies requires the hiring of a
supervisor at a higher rate of pay.
Mecklenburg allows deputies to work in uniform and, for those with assigned take home
units, use marked sheriff's cars in some cases. The possible use of the department vehicle
gets the request even closer scrutiny. Rahe cited the fear of the departmental image being
tarnished or perhaps even the car itself getting damaged. The role crime deterrence plays
is a positive in the request for utilization of a marked car.
Deputies are allowed to work up to a maximum of 16 hours per day. County jail deputies
work 12-hour shifts and thus have only four additional hours left. Field deputies work
eight-hour shifts and may work an additional eight hours before they hit the 16-hour ceiling.
Deputies must check in and out via telephone or portable radio with department
communications. Radio call numbers have a "P" designation in front of them to indicate
part-time work status.
Compensation
The bottom line for officers is of course money. The money to be garnered varies between
jurisdictions.
"Municipal officers generally get higher rates of pay in urban areas, with deputy sheriffs,
small police agencies and constables getting less money," DeLord said.
Many administrators have become concerned with the mode of payment.
"We coordinate the special jobs through the agency because the officer is considered on
duty, has a marked unit if needed, and is available to us in case of an emergency," Krein
said. He explained that in the event an officer is pulled from the job site, the contracting
organization's money is refunded.
Beverly Hills requires that the city be paid a fee of $60 per hour with a minimum time
commitment of four hours. Krein said the city in turn disburses the money to the officer
based on their pay rate. A new officer in Beverly Hills makes around $20 per hour while a
veteran makes approximately $30 hourly.
Given that these jobs come in after the 40 hours of regular work, the actual rate the two
example officers would get is overtime and the pay rate is multiplied one and a half times to
be $30 and $45, respectively.
Deputies in Mecklenburg County are paid a minimum of $18.50 an hour directly by the
business. For jobs where traffic direction is the service requested, the rate jumps to $22 an
hour. The rate for supervisors (only when four or more deputies are at the location) is also
$22 hourly. Rahe said that some trouble spot locations have commanded rates in the high
20s.
Sullivan said that Paramus police officers get whatever they can negotiate with employers
directly. The agency is not involved in that type of off-duty employment and they are not
representing the police department. "The officers paid directly by department stores, like
Nordstom's or Macy's, are paid usually in the $30 an hour range," he said.
For the governmental road construction projects that adorn Paramus, uniformed officers
are paid $45 per hour by the department. The contracting entity actually pays $49.50, but
Paramus retains $4.50 to cover administrative expenses.
"By having the check paid by the DOT to the Borough (of Paramus) and us paying the
officer, the officer is covered if they are injured. We had a guy hit by a car once and he was
covered," Sullivan said.
CLEAT's DeLord was very concerned with the coverage of officers who work off-duty
employment situations. He said that his organization has had member officers who were
injured while working off-duty jobs. "We went to the (Texas) state legislature and clarified
that an out of jurisdiction injury comes under worker's comp, whereas an in jurisdiction
injury carries full benefits," he said.
Off-duty jobs have dangers of both a litigious and physical nature. While officers view
secondary-employment work as essential, particularly in locales where officer pay is low,
law enforcement managers have a responsibility to ensure that clear policies and
guidelines are set forth.
Richard B. Weinblatt, a former officer, teaches criminal justice and is a regular contributor
to L&O.
Captain Kris A. Rahe received the phone call: "This is Captain Goode. Captain Stancil has
been killed. We need your help."
Captain Anthony Stancil had been shot while confronting a man who shoplifted $3.00 worth
of crab legs in a grocery store parking lot. He had been working an off-duty job.
"That incident made me more aware and served as a wake up call," recalled Mecklenburg
County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Holder. "I now pick and choose my secondary jobs more
carefully. I want more laid back jobs."
The Stancil shooting incident led Captain Rahe and his management colleagues to
re-examine the department's policies concerning off-duty jobs. Approaches to off-duty jobs
vary widely from agency to agency, ranging in issues from whether the department
coordinates the secondary source of income to whether the officer is covered if he or she is
injured. However, one facet remains constant throughout law enforcement: officers want the
extra money.
"Few chiefs or politicians will ban off-duty employment. The officers want it, and businesses
want it," explained Ron DeLord, president of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of
Texas (CLEAT), which represents 12,000 member officers in that state. He added that
off-duty work is extremely prevalent in Texas.
A tradition of off-duty employment, along with the presence of single income earners and
divorces, has ratcheted up officers' desire to bring home the extra dough. Correspondingly,
the demand for officers has often outstripped the supply. Some states, such as
Massachusetts, even mandate that off-duty officers be hired for traffic control when road
construction work is undertaken.
"The jobs are so plentiful that we have trouble getting them filled. An example is the
Charlotte Panthers games. We'll put in 30 deputies and the Charlotte Police puts in 30
officers," said Captain Rahe who coordinates secondary jobs for the Sheriff's Department
that has 352 sworn deputies. Rahe said the city's police department has more jobs than
they can fill and deputies call over there to pick some of them up.
Mecklenburg County can count some 20 deputy sheriffs working secondary jobs on
weeknights, and on weekend nights can see upwards of 100 deputies in a plethora of
Charlotte area businesses ranging from fast food establishments to truck stops. Sunday
mornings from 8:00 am until 11:00 am also have a lot of deputies working secondary jobs to
cover church traffic details.
DeLord and others cautioned that the area of off-duty jobs is fraught with civil liability
mine-fields. Those hazards are in addition to the physical danger such as what transpired
with Mecklenburg County's Captain Stancil.
"We had a situation where an officer who worked an off-duty job was sued. The department
said that they were not responsible and the business declared bankruptcy. We represented
the officer and ended up suing the department," DeLord recalled.
Some administrators find that the headaches outweigh the benefits. International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) vice president Joe Polisar, police chief in Garden
Grove, California, calls off-duty employment "an administrative nightmare" with large civil
liability aspects.
Officers in Garden Grove do not work uniformed off-duty jobs. They are allowed to engage
in non-job related activities with the exception of conflict forming pursuits such as the
installation of burglar alarms and process serving.
"Had I been approached to start an off-duty program here, I wouldn't have. The policy was
in place when I got here and I haven't been lobbied to change it," Polisar said. He added
that the Garden Grove officers and the community apparently did not feel that they needed
the option.
Polisar feels that the acceptance of off-duty jobs depends on the needs of the city. He
pointed to the situation of nearby Anaheim, California, which is home to Disneyland.
"Anaheim has enormous traffic issues to contend with and they have to have off-duty jobs
to handle them," he said.
Arranging the jobs
Most of the agencies interviewed indicated that they have strict policies governing their
officers on off-duty jobs. Many have a central person, such as Captain Rahe, who facilitate
the jobs.
Lieutenant Ed Kreins, executive officer of the Beverly Hills, California, Police Department,
said his high profile city of 33,000 wealthy residents coordinates the use of all officers who
engage in what is dubbed "special jobs." Organizations interested in hiring a Beverly Hills
police officer contact the watch commander or traffic division.
"We understand that officers need money. However, the area is so sensitive that a policy
must be in place," Kreins said.
Officers can work other jobs out of uniform and without a patrol car by applying to the
agency for an off-duty work permit. Many officers have undertaken other endeavors
ranging from bricklayer to security for Beverly Hills' rich and famous. The rate of
compensation is strictly between the off-duty officer and the contracting person or company.
However, if an officer is slated to be in the police uniform, departments are understandably
involved. Administrators routinely dictate what jobs may be worked and how they are
distributed among the troops.
Beverly Hills came up with what they say is a fair system that does not allow for favoritism.
They used to employ a first come, first served system but eschewed it for a process that
favors the officer with the least special jobs hours for the year.
"If an officer has had 100 jobs while a second officer has zero and ten jobs come in, the
officer with no jobs thus far will get all ten jobs. We want the jobs to be balanced," Kreins
explained.
The job opportunities in Beverly Hills are posted for a week so that the opportunity may be
viewed by all officers on the work schedule cycle. He elaborated that the old first come, first
served system erroneously favored the officers who were on day shift (when most of the
jobs would come in) at the expense of the night shift officers.
The Paramus, New Jersey, Police Department has two basic approaches to off-duty
employment. Deputy Chief Timothy Sullivan said that the community, located west of New
York City, has a large number of shopping malls and highway construction activity that
leads to plenty of extra work for their 96 full-time officers. The Bergen County municipality's
population of 29,000 swells to a quarter of a million people during the day and thus
necessitates more officers.
"Private entities may contract for an officer through the union or through individual officers
and they pay the officer directly. However, the officer may not wear a police uniform or use
a patrol car," Deputy Chief Sullivan said. The officers may wear black shirts and pants as
long as they do not say Paramus Police.
The second situation available to Paramus officers is traffic control duty initiated by the
Bergen County Department of Transportation (DOT) or the state. "We have a $600-$800
million construction project now that uses six officers in a 24 hour period," said Sullivan.
Paramus officers work 12-hour shifts, from seven to seven, and may work in uniform with
each man assigned to a marked fleet car. Sullivan said there are plenty of slots available
and uniformed troopers with the New Jersey State Police also work the traffic details.
Rahe serves as the clearinghouse and coordination point man for all secondary
employment stints for the Mecklenburg Sheriff's Department. He said he will computerize
the process in the near future. In addition to the agency fielding inquiries from businesses,
another route is available. A deputy can request to be the recruiting coordinator for a
business and set up the schedule for deputies working the location.
"This allows the deputy to put his buddies in there and, as the coordinator, he gets the best
hours," Rahe explained. The down side for the recruiting coordinator is that he is
responsible if the assigned deputy fails to show up for the assignment.
Working the jobs
Many departments have comprehensive policies covering the off-duty jobs. In Charlotte,
deputies must have been a certified officer for a minimum of one year prior to putting in for
secondary employment. Both Beverly Hills and Mecklenburg County indicated that they view
an officer not fulfilling an off-duty obligation the same as not showing up for duty at the
police agency.
"If an officer signs up for a special job and can't work it, it's his responsibility to fill it.
Otherwise, he is subject to discipline as if it was a duty assignment," Krein said.
Beverly Hills does allow its officers, who work three 12 ½ hour on-duty shifts, to use
compensatory time or vacation time if the job is approved and the shift is not at minimum
staffing levels.
In Mecklenburg County, forms have to be filled out detailing the nature of the job possibility.
Additionally, there are different rule sheets that have to be read and signed by managers of
apartment developments or alcohol establishments.
Rahe recalled being asked by a Charlotte apartment manager years ago to take on a host
of duties such as raising the flag in front of the complex. The policies of the agency today
prevent the use of deputies for anything but enforcement of laws. "Some businesses say no
when we explain that to them, but that's O.K. We can be picky," Rahe said.
The emphasis is on enforcing laws and not house rules. An establishment that serves
alcohol must have 60% of its sales made up of food or deputies are not allowed to work
there.
CLEAT's DeLord echoed the concern that Mecklenburg County and others agencies have
of misuse of officers on off-duty jobs. "When you are in a grocery store and take action
when a robbery occurs, you're enforcing the law and that's good. You should not be acting
as the establishment's errand boy," he said.
DeLord was aware of the important Constitutional issues surrounding public police handling
private employer matters, "Most agencies do not allow their people to work alcohol
establishments where they may be thrust wrongfully into the role of bouncer."
"We look very carefully at these forms to see who is requesting the deputy and what they
want him to do. Sheriff Pendergraph feels that our people are held to a high standard even
on secondary employment jobs," Rahe said.
If a job site becomes the source of a lot of arrests or use of force situations, Mecklenburg
County reexamines the request and sometimes amends the approval to require that two
deputies be hired to work. Any location with four or more deputies requires the hiring of a
supervisor at a higher rate of pay.
Mecklenburg allows deputies to work in uniform and, for those with assigned take home
units, use marked sheriff's cars in some cases. The possible use of the department vehicle
gets the request even closer scrutiny. Rahe cited the fear of the departmental image being
tarnished or perhaps even the car itself getting damaged. The role crime deterrence plays
is a positive in the request for utilization of a marked car.
Deputies are allowed to work up to a maximum of 16 hours per day. County jail deputies
work 12-hour shifts and thus have only four additional hours left. Field deputies work
eight-hour shifts and may work an additional eight hours before they hit the 16-hour ceiling.
Deputies must check in and out via telephone or portable radio with department
communications. Radio call numbers have a "P" designation in front of them to indicate
part-time work status.
Compensation
The bottom line for officers is of course money. The money to be garnered varies between
jurisdictions.
"Municipal officers generally get higher rates of pay in urban areas, with deputy sheriffs,
small police agencies and constables getting less money," DeLord said.
Many administrators have become concerned with the mode of payment.
"We coordinate the special jobs through the agency because the officer is considered on
duty, has a marked unit if needed, and is available to us in case of an emergency," Krein
said. He explained that in the event an officer is pulled from the job site, the contracting
organization's money is refunded.
Beverly Hills requires that the city be paid a fee of $60 per hour with a minimum time
commitment of four hours. Krein said the city in turn disburses the money to the officer
based on their pay rate. A new officer in Beverly Hills makes around $20 per hour while a
veteran makes approximately $30 hourly.
Given that these jobs come in after the 40 hours of regular work, the actual rate the two
example officers would get is overtime and the pay rate is multiplied one and a half times to
be $30 and $45, respectively.
Deputies in Mecklenburg County are paid a minimum of $18.50 an hour directly by the
business. For jobs where traffic direction is the service requested, the rate jumps to $22 an
hour. The rate for supervisors (only when four or more deputies are at the location) is also
$22 hourly. Rahe said that some trouble spot locations have commanded rates in the high
20s.
Sullivan said that Paramus police officers get whatever they can negotiate with employers
directly. The agency is not involved in that type of off-duty employment and they are not
representing the police department. "The officers paid directly by department stores, like
Nordstom's or Macy's, are paid usually in the $30 an hour range," he said.
For the governmental road construction projects that adorn Paramus, uniformed officers
are paid $45 per hour by the department. The contracting entity actually pays $49.50, but
Paramus retains $4.50 to cover administrative expenses.
"By having the check paid by the DOT to the Borough (of Paramus) and us paying the
officer, the officer is covered if they are injured. We had a guy hit by a car once and he was
covered," Sullivan said.
CLEAT's DeLord was very concerned with the coverage of officers who work off-duty
employment situations. He said that his organization has had member officers who were
injured while working off-duty jobs. "We went to the (Texas) state legislature and clarified
that an out of jurisdiction injury comes under worker's comp, whereas an in jurisdiction
injury carries full benefits," he said.
Off-duty jobs have dangers of both a litigious and physical nature. While officers view
secondary-employment work as essential, particularly in locales where officer pay is low,
law enforcement managers have a responsibility to ensure that clear policies and
guidelines are set forth.
Richard B. Weinblatt, a former officer, teaches criminal justice and is a regular contributor
to L&O.
| For contracting of articles, media commentary, or other matters, contact: richard@policearticles.com or rweinblatt@cfl.rr.com |
| policearticles.com home of published articles written by Richard B. Weinblatt |
Located just North of Orlando,
Florida, Richard B. Weinblatt
provides professional article
writing services and expert
commentary for the media on a
variety of criminal justice topics
Florida, Richard B. Weinblatt
provides professional article
writing services and expert
commentary for the media on a
variety of criminal justice topics
| FAST FACT "Reserve Reports" by Richard B. Weinblatt, a regular column in LAW AND ORDER: THE MAGAZINE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT, ran for a decade (1991-2001). |
| FAST FACT Richard Weinblatt's March-April 1997 SHERIFF MAGAZINE article "Sheriffs Take on Rural Patrol Challenge" featured him on the cover. |
| FAST FACT The 250+ page book "Reserve Law Enforcement in the United States" by Richard B. Weinblatt, was published in 1993 |
This website contains criminal justice articles written by former Police Chief and Criminal Justice Professor/Police Academy Manager Richard B. Weinblatt |