Haddon Township and off-duty police work

Why this is published at all

New Jersey is the only state where you can look up what a patrol car costs on a detail, town by town, and the reason is statutory. The Attorney General and the Division of Local Government Services determined that municipal officers may work off duty for private parties — and state law then requires that the assignment be arranged by contract with the municipality, not with the officer. So the town has to set the price, and it sets it in an ordinance that anyone can read.

So what follows is not a policy manual. It is Haddon Township's own ordinance, and it says what the town charges.

What the ordinance charges

What the officer's time costs: police personnel at twice top patrol-officer rate; Township government/civic associations $125 per employee per event; school events $75/hour; 20% administrative charge

The car, and what it costs

The vehicle is priced separately: $50 per car per job

Whether the car may go at all: provided.

In the ordinance's own words: “If applicable, a vehicle maintenance cost of $50 per car per job.”

Most of the 141 towns here price the car by the hour or by the day; Haddon Township does neither, which is why the figure reads the way it does.

How the work is arranged

Who approves it: Chief of Police or designee How a job is arranged: request to Chief/designee; prepaid special escrow; Township may use third-party off-duty program administrator for scheduling, billing, collections and pay How the officer is paid: Chief Financial Officer pays personnel during second regular pay period following assignment What is barred: Chief/designee determines propriety of each request

What the ordinance does not say

An ordinance sets the terms of the contract between the town and whoever hires the officer. It is not a conduct policy, and this one does not deal with any weekly hour cap.

Those answers, where they exist, sit in the department's own rules and this page has not read them.

Vehicles

Set by Haddon Township's own ordinance, which is how New Jersey prices off-duty police work — the town contracts with the employer, so the town sets the fee.

• $50 per car per job

Every agency here, side by side on vehicles →

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Common questions

What does an off-duty Haddon Township police officer cost?

police personnel at twice top patrol-officer rate; Township government/civic associations $125 per employee per event; school events $75/hour; 20% administrative charge

Does Haddon Township charge for the police vehicle?

$50 per car per job

Who arranges an off-duty job in New Jersey?

The municipality. State law requires the assignment to be arranged by contract with the town rather than privately with the officer, which is why the town publishes a rate at all.