|
Lack of Oversight With Your Agency’s Extra-Duty Employment Program Can Cost You Public Support and Officer Morale
Every day, thousands of citizens, companies, and other entities seek additional safety and security by hiring off duty police officers to provide immediate on-site visibility, presence, and security. These types of activities specifically require that official law enforcement powers will or may be used. In the policing profession, this activity is generally known as extra-duty employment.
Because a vast majority of law enforcement agencies authorize their sworn personnel to work extra-duty assignments there is a critical need to regulate, manage, and administer such activities by their personnel. Most agencies which authorize their sworn personnel to work extra-duty assignments have policies that regulate and direct how extra-duty employment will be handles.
Even when detailed policies exist there are many cases where oversight processes fail. A failure in oversight, control and regulation of an agency’s extra-duty program can result in officers working too many hours, double-dipping or working for multiple vendors at the same time, not working and still being paid and a failure to properly document time worked. In the end, such failures compromise the perception, trust and public support of the agency involved.
Law enforcement executives have options when developing comprehensive oversight to their extra-duty program but must be cognizant to retain overall management of the program. To that end, the agency should set the operational rules for the program, such as, who can work extra-duty jobs and in what capacity, how many hours can be worked, what type of jobs can and cannot be worked and set officer pay rates and equipment use costs. The agency must set out all aspects of its extra-duty policy in a comprehensive written policy format. Administration of the program can be delegated.
Click here to view the full article
| 
