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California police off-duty rules
6 agencies in California publish rules on off-duty or secondary employment. Here is what each of them says.
California Highway Patrol
State agency
No off-duty police work of any kind, a permit that expires on your performance appraisal, and a duration test that decides how far up the chain the request travels.
7,168
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
County
A 24-hour weekly maximum, no second peace officer position, no stake in a security firm even through a spouse — and a separate contract route where the county pays you and bills the client.
8,715
Los Angeles Police Department
Municipal
A twenty-hour week, private investigation prohibited and divested, and uniformed work that needs the Police Commission's blessing.
8,663Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department
County
No secondary employment may use the uniform, badge or authority of office, and no security services at all, paid or voluntary.
1,460swornauthorized · 2026San Jose Police Department
Municipal
A dedicated unit under the Chief, city-purchased liability cover at $2m, and no work at alcohol-led venues since 1997.
1,065
Stanford University Department of Public Safety
University
Twenty hours a week of outside work, nine college units a term — and both need the Director's approval.
—sworn
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The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
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Also for California: What California agencies pay to start 239 agencies, each verified against the employer's own document.
If your agency is not here
These are the California agencies whose own documents we have been able to obtain and read in full. An agency missing from this list usually means the policy is not published rather than that there is no policy - your own chain of command holds the current version.
The four pages in our off-duty section describe how this kind of work runs in general, whatever your agency.
Other states
Back to the map — every state and territory, and what is published in each.
Whatever your agency's rules turn out to be
The record is yours either way — the hours, the employer, the rate, the miles, and whether the money has landed.
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