Chicago police officers and secondary employment

The second-largest department, and almost no paperwork

Every other agency in this section runs on permission: a form, a chain of command, an approval that expires. Chicago mostly does not, and that is the first thing to understand about it.

Civilian members and sworn exempt members complete the city's Outside Employment Form. Captains, lieutenants and sergeants complete a Notice of Secondary Employment before working. And sworn members covered by labor agreements are expressly not required to submit the city form at all.

Which leaves the rank and file. A Chicago police officer working secondary employment files no permit, seeks no approval and tells no one, so far as this directive is concerned. The department controls the work through a list of prohibitions instead — and enforces it after the fact, with discipline up to separation.

That is a different model from Seattle's permits, Fairfax's sheriff signing every request, or Johns Creek posting jobs on a board. In Chicago the constraint is not who says yes; it is what you are forbidden to do.

Sixteen hours — and three warnings first

There is an hours cap, and it is narrower than it first appears. Captains, lieutenants and sergeants may not work more than 16 hours in any 24-hour period including secondary employment, unless ordered by the department. Officers below those ranks have no numerical ceiling in this directive at all.

Then comes a sentence with no counterpart anywhere else in this section: no captain, lieutenant or sergeant will be disciplined for breaching the 16-hour rule without first being counselled for up to three separate alleged violations.

Three warnings, written into the policy. Compare Lakewood, where a supervisor must remove an officer from duty for exceeding the limit, or New Castle County, where going over draws progressive discipline immediately. Chicago builds in the runway.

The rest of the fatigue provision is advisory rather than numerical: a member should leave enough time between secondary employment and the start of a tour for ample rest. Should, not shall — and the directive is careful with those words elsewhere, so the choice is deliberate.

This agency11,553

Median of the 202,234

Largest here33,721

One of 20 city departments here with a traced figure. Each number is what that agency itself publishes, so some are authorized strength and some are actual headcount — useful for scale, not an exact comparison.

What happens when you make an arrest

This is the passage worth the visit, and it settles something most policies leave vague.

If an arrest occurs while a member is working secondary employment, the responding on-duty officer is the arresting and primary officer on the report. The off-duty member is identified as a victim or witness to the incident.

And the money follows the paperwork. Members working in a security capacity will neither request nor be credited with overtime for arrests or court appearances arising from their secondary employment. The directive is blunt about it: under no circumstances will the off-duty member seek compensation for a court appearance related to that work — the secondary employer will claim all responsibility for the incident.

For an officer, that is a real calculation. An arrest made on a detail does not become department overtime, and it does not put you on the report as the arresting officer. It puts you on it as a witness.

Injured on duty, or not

Chicago draws the injury line more precisely than any other agency here, and it turns on why you acted rather than where you were standing.

A member hurt during the hours they are being paid by a secondary employer normally will not be classified as Injured on Duty. The department also states plainly that it assumes no liability for a member's actions during the actual hours of secondary employment.

But there is an exception, and it is the useful part. If a sworn member was performing an action required of an off-duty officer — the directive's own example is arresting an offender who commits a crime in their presence — rather than an action required as a condition of the secondary employment, then the circumstances will be evaluated to decide whether Injured on Duty status applies after all.

So the same officer, on the same shop floor, in the same minute, can fall on either side of the line depending on whether they were doing the job they were hired for or the job the badge requires. Florida reaches a similar result by statute; Chicago reaches it by asking what the member was doing at the moment of the injury.

The uniform, and who has to ask for it

Members may neither represent themselves as a Chicago Police Officer nor wear the uniform during secondary employment without the written permission of the Superintendent of Police.

The mechanism is the part to notice: the employer must submit the request in writing to the Superintendent, addressed to the Chief of Staff. Not the officer — the business that wants a uniformed police officer standing in its doorway has to write to the head of the department and ask.

It is a quiet piece of gatekeeping. Anywhere else, the officer applies for permission to wear the uniform. In Chicago the burden sits with whoever wants to buy the appearance of a police officer.

What is barred outright

The restrictions are the substance of the directive, since there is no permit to refuse. Secondary employment is prohibited:

For probationary members, full stop. Where the employer is not properly registered or licensed. Where police authority, powers, records or services are a condition of the job, or where the work requires access to police equipment, records or files. Where the conditions, hours or location would impair the member's efficiency or interfere with responding to emergency calls. Where the work would bring the department or the member into disrespect or disfavour. And where a conflict of interest would arise — the example given is conducting a defense investigation against the City of Chicago.

Alcohol is handled at length: no work where the primary business is selling intoxicating liquor, no direct or indirect ownership or operation of a tavern, and in no instance may a member serve as a bartender or a cocktail server. Cannabis gets its own clause, and it is drawn to Illinois licensing: no work for any organisation licensed as a medical or adult-use dispensary, cultivation center, craft grower, processor or transporting organisation. Louisiana bars particular premises by license class; Chicago names an entire regulated industry.

Also barred: while on the Medical Roll for any reason; while in limited duty status, for work requiring activities that status does not permit; where the number of educational courses combined with the secondary employment impairs efficiency — the same instinct as Stanford's nine-unit rule, reached from the other direction; and at the site of a labor dispute where the member would have to cross a picket line, though the Superintendent may lift that one where a local public service entity is involved.

Exempt members get a short list

At the top of the department the rule inverts: exempt members may not work at all without the written approval of the Superintendent, and what they may do is limited to four things — teaching at an accredited institution, writing books, articles or pamphlets, practising a profession licensed by Illinois where the license required academic training and a state examination, or anything else the Superintendent permits in writing.

Two absolute bars sit on top: an exempt member may never be concurrently employed by another law enforcement agency, and may have no economic interest whatsoever in any security firm, guard service or private detective agency.

It is close to the list Johns Hopkins gives its captains and above, and close to Stanford's bar on any interest in a detective agency. The higher the rank, the narrower the door.

What this page cannot tell you

This directive governs secondary employment as an activity. It says nothing about rates, coordinators, scheduling systems or how a business hires an officer for a night — and nothing about the department's own special employment programme, which sits in other directives.

The supervisors' process is the one place it gets procedural: a Notice of Secondary Employment goes to the immediate supervisor, who reviews it within five working days against the criteria, then to an exempt-rank commanding officer at least one rank higher, who approves or denies within a further five working days — and may only refuse on the restrictions listed above or the 16-hour limit. The notice expires on 31 December and must be resubmitted by 1 December for the following year, or sooner if the member's assignment, hours or work change.

Common questions

Does a Chicago patrol officer need a permit?

No. Rank-and-file officers need no permit for secondary employment — a notice rather than an approval, which is rare for a department this size.

Is there an hour cap?

Sixteen hours in any twenty-four, and it applies to supervisors only.

When does the notice expire?

31 December each year, so every notice renews on the same date.