DC Metropolitan Police and outside employment

The employer has to insure the District

This is the provision that sets DC apart, and it sits in city regulation rather than departmental preference.

It is a condition of employment that an employer hiring an officer for police-related work obtains and maintains liability insurance of at least $100,000. Its stated purpose is to protect the District government against third-party liability arising from the officer's conduct while so employed, and the District must be named as an additional insured. Proof goes to the Chief of Police.

The employer also signs an agreement acknowledging that the officer's working conditions and hours are subject to review by the department, and that the officer is subject to recall and required to respond to felonies in progress while working for them. Agreeing to those conditions in writing is itself a condition of the employment.

Before approval, the commander orders a site survey of the business and assesses whether the tasks the employer wants performed are appropriate and compatible with the police function. Where they are obviously unreasonable, disapproval is recommended with reasons set out separately.

Brokering is the thing they will not tolerate

Brokering is defined at length — acting as intermediary, liaison, referral agent, consultant or third-party provider of police-related work between an employer and any other member, for scheduling or coordination.

No member may do it. And the sanction escalates by rank: any member who brokers may be subject to discipline at the Chief's discretion, while any member of captain rank or above who brokers may face adverse action.

Related bars follow. No member may work for a firm whose primary business is supplying private security guards or special police officers. No member may run such a business inside the District, nor — directly or indirectly — supply the off-duty services of other members for police work.

Rank governs who may supervise whom. A non-supervisory member may not take work that puts them in a supervisory role over other members. A sergeant working alongside other non-supervisory members may only take the supervisory role. Lieutenants and captains may work only in a supervisory capacity reflecting their rank. Inspectors and above may not work police-related jobs at all.

And nobody works their own patch: no officer, sergeant or lieutenant may work police-related jobs in their assigned patrol service area, and no captain in their own district.

Thirty-two hours, and no work on sick leave

Outside employment is capped at 32 hours per calendar week unless the Chief approves otherwise.

A member may not work any outside job while on sick leave — and may not resume until they have returned to full police duties and performed at least one full tour. Using sick leave for a dental or medical appointment while otherwise on full duty does not trigger it.

Members not in full-duty status are barred. Probationary members are barred. And no member may accept compensation for services rendered while on duty.

One provision runs in the officer's favour, and it is unusually thoughtful. A member is not barred from a second job merely because its hours coincide with their tour, if they take annual leave — the example given is a two-day paid seminar. But a job requiring leave every Friday afternoon would probably be prohibited, because that frequency is likely to interfere with their police duties.

What is prohibited, and where

Prohibited in any jurisdiction: work for any business the department has a supervisory, regulatory or enforcement function over; private investigation or detective work; civil process serving; unarmed guard work; and enforcing house rules at establishments selling alcohol by the drink.

Also barred anywhere: businesses whose primary purpose is selling alcohol — taverns, nightclubs, brew pubs — though the order is explicit that hotels, restaurants and sporting arenas are fine, because alcohol is not their primary purpose. Sexually oriented businesses are prohibited, as is any job needing access to confidential police records, and any work for a federal, foreign or embassy employer.

Work for a DC government agency requires that agency to obtain permission from the city's personnel office first. And a member may not accept police-related outside employment in another jurisdiction at all.

Two things are barred only inside the District but permitted elsewhere: working as a sightseeing guide or in a pawnshop, and working as a bill collector, repossessor or collection agent.

Radio in at the start of every tour

An officer beginning a police-related outside tour contacts communications and the command information center by radio with four things: their name, where they are working, the name of the employer or supervisor, and the hours they will work that day.

On crime, the sequence is prescribed rather than left to judgement. A member notifies communications before responding to or initiating direct police action, where practical without endangering someone. And no member working outside employment takes direct police action as an MPD officer unless escape is imminent because on-duty officers have not arrived in time.

Where an arrest is made, the officer writes the reports, and the words “outside employment” go at the top of every form. The prisoner is processed in the district where the arrest happened, an official from that district reviews the reports, and the officer attends court — marking the court form “outside employment” there too.

The department does not reimburse members for those court appearances or the other work an outside-employment arrest generates.

An injury off duty is never an injury on duty

The order states it without qualification: any injury sustained in the course of outside employment shall not under any circumstances be considered an injury in the performance of duty under the police and firefighters' retirement and disability statute.

Damage to uniform or equipment during outside work is likewise not in the performance of duty, and either the member or the employer compensates the department. Only where the damage happened while the member was performing official duty does the department cover it.

And the burden of proof sits with the officer. Where there is an administrative determination about whether an act, injury or incident counts as being in the course of outside employment, the burden to show it should not rests on the member affected.

Officers wear the standard service uniform with issued equipment, remain responsible for it as if on duty, and pay a quarterly uniform fee covering all their sites.

Quarterly paperwork, and what happens if you skip it

Members file a quarterly report within two weeks of the end of each quarter — whether or not they worked any outside employment in it. An annual certification goes in at the start of each calendar year.

Missing the quarterly filing has an immediate consequence: a member who fails to submit for the quarter they are working is not allowed to work outside employment during that quarter.

The professional responsibility office revokes privileges for failing to file, failing to keep the insurance in force, working at an unapproved site, exceeding the 32 hours, or misconduct while working.

Before approving anyone, a commander reviews at least a year of the member's work record — sick leave and the reasons for it, punctuality, performance rating, court appearances, previous complaints arising from outside work, and any medical or disciplinary problems the second job might aggravate.

Disputes over whether a particular job creates a conflict of interest go through the negotiated grievance procedure and end in binding arbitration, or to the Chief where no such procedure exists.