Georgia DPS and off-duty police employment

Rules, not policy

Most agencies in this section publish a manual. Georgia publishes a chapter of the state administrative code — thirteen numbered rules under the Department of Public Safety, headed Off-Duty Police Employment, covering definitions, approval, eligibility, unacceptable employment, employer responsibilities, hours, law enforcement action, conduct, state equipment, recall, large details and rental agreements.

That matters in two practical ways. The rules are amended by a filed and dated rulemaking rather than a memo, so their history is public: several were last amended in December 2019, effective January 2020. And the code itself is republished quarterly, so what a trooper reads is what is in force.

Each rule cites the statute it rests on. This is not the agency's preference about second jobs; it is regulation, with the Commissioner as the approving authority.

Sixty-four hours, and six hours' rest

A sworn member may work a maximum of 64 hours in a workweek — whether that is all regular duty, all off-duty employment, or any mixture of the two.

With supervisor approval, 72 hours may be worked during one week of each 28-day roster. A post commander has authority to determine that an overage was unavoidable, and exceptions apply for a riot, natural disaster, emergency or other exigent circumstance as the Commissioner determines.

Then the rest rule, which is the one that shapes a roster: a member working off-duty employment must provide a minimum of six hours for rest between off-duty employment and regular on-duty assignments. Not a gap between details — a gap before going back on duty.

And the enforcement clause is unusually direct. Any deliberate omission or misrepresentation of hours worked on off-duty employment results in disciplinary action up to and including termination. Under-reporting the hours is treated more seriously than working them.

Everything arranged on your own time

The general provisions are largely about keeping the two jobs apart, and they are specific about it.

No scheduling, arranging employment, finding replacements or delivering paycheques may be done while on duty — with one carve-out, for work where the trooper is paid through the Department itself.

A member may not leave their assigned duty work zone for the purpose of off-duty employment, and may not visit off-duty work sites while on a regularly assigned patrol shift. Schedules may not be adjusted to accommodate off-duty opportunities except where personally approved by the post commander or the immediate supervisor.

Work for an employer involved in a labor strike is prohibited — and where an approved employer becomes involved in one, the approval is considered immediately withdrawn.

A department vehicle requires the Commissioner's advance written approval and may be used only in the manner and for the purpose approved.

The line the employer cannot cross

One sentence in the general provisions does more work than its length suggests: all law enforcement decisions will be made by the sworn member and not by the off-duty police employer.

The employer rules run the same way. Where another state agency wants to hire a trooper, the request goes in writing and must meet the same requirements. And if the hours worked make the member eligible for overtime, the overtime is the other agency's responsibility up to the maximum hours it worked them.

More broadly, where a member becomes entitled to overtime pay as a result of working outside the Department, the outside employer bears the expense and the liability — and must agree to that in writing.

So the cost of an over-long week falls on whoever created it, rather than on the state.

What will not be approved

The unacceptable list names wrecker companies, bail bonding, private investigation, paralegal services, adult entertainment, and any employment whose primary source of revenue is the sale of alcohol.

Two entries on it appear nowhere else in this section: fast food establishments and retail sales establishments. Where other agencies bar work that might compromise police authority, Georgia also bars work it regards as beneath the office.

Also unacceptable is any employment that would require a sworn member to testify in court in opposition to another law enforcement agency.

Alcohol has a stated exception: approval may be granted case by case where sale and consumption are incidental to the primary purpose — sports facilities and civic centres are the examples given.

And the list is explicitly not exhaustive. The Commissioner may rule out anything else judged inconsistent, incompatible, in conflict with, or likely to bring discredit upon the Department. During the employment, the Department may make reasonable inquiries to satisfy itself there is still no conflict.

Reduced rent, and where the line falls

Georgia answers the arrangement Orlando calls a courtesy officer, and answers it more precisely than anyone else here.

A member with an agreement to pay reduced rent or no rent for merely residing at an apartment complex, house or mobile home park is not engaged in off-duty police employment. Living there is not a job.

But if any regularly scheduled service — such as security checks — is part of the agreement, the member is engaged in off-duty police employment and must seek approval like anyone else. The rule covers agreements that are written or oral, and the request has to state the conditions of the arrangement clearly.

The distinction is exactly right, and it is the one most policies leave fuzzy: it is not the discount that makes it work, it is the duty attached to it.