LAPD officers and secondary employment

Conditions, or nothing at all

Section 1/270.30 of the Department Manual sits inside the chapter on employee conflict of interest, and that placement tells you how Los Angeles thinks about outside work.

The reasoning is familiar — irregular schedules, the need for rest — but the conclusion is blunter than most: because certain activities are inherently incompatible with an employee's primary responsibility, the Department may impose conditions on secondary employment or may prohibit it altogether. The stated test is that the Department receives full and faithful service in return for its expenditure of resources.

Underneath it is California law. The manual names Government Code section 1126 — the state's incompatible activities statute — as the ultimate control, and says the Department's own policy exists to give specific shape to the broad parameters Sacramento set.

What the City will not do for you

The second paragraph of the policy is the one an officer should read twice, because it is a warning rather than a rule.

Employees accepting secondary employment may not be entitled to legal representation, payment of an adverse judgment, or other benefits from the City that they would have on duty. The manual then explains why: an officer taking off-duty work is generally hired to perform specific duties for an employer, and is acting in the employer's interests.

So it gives advice instead of cover: officers should have a firm commitment from the employer about legal representation or other benefits that may become necessary as a result of the officer's conduct in protecting that employer's interests.

It is the same conclusion Chicago, New York and Johns Hopkins reach by different routes. What differs is the tone — Los Angeles is telling officers to negotiate for it before they take the job.

This agency8,738

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.

Twenty hours, and none while you are hurt

The maximum is twenty hours per week. It can be exceeded, but only on the recommendation of the division commanding officer and with the approval of the Director, Office of Support Services — and only after a review of the individual's on-duty performance and the nature of the work.

That places LAPD alongside NYPD and Stanford at the restrictive end. What Los Angeles adds is a medical dimension: the Department may take an employee's medical condition into account in deciding what secondary employment would do to their ability to perform, and no employee may work while carried on sick or injured-on-duty status except by special written permission of the Director, Office of Support Services.

Officers on entry-level probation may not work at all, though commanding officers may recommend an exception in special cases.

Private investigation, prohibited and divested

Most agencies here bar investigative work while an officer serves. Los Angeles goes a step further, in its own section 1/270.35.

Employees shall discontinue secondary employment as a private investigator and shall divest themselves of all financial interests in any private investigative business. Not merely stop working — sell the stake.

One narrow exception survives: working for or as a private investigator on traffic collision reconstruction investigations only. When the order took effect, all other pre-existing permits involving investigative services expired six months later.

The enforcement is structural rather than occasional. Commanding officers must regularly examine work permit records to verify compliance and may not approve or renew any permit related to private investigation, while the Commanding Officer of Personnel Division examines every permit application for approval or denial.

Stanford, whose deputies are sworn through a California sheriff, reaches the same place by barring any interest in a detective agency even indirectly through community property. Both are working from the same state's conflict rules.

The uniform needs the Commission

Prohibited activities include using, for private gain or advantage, City time, facilities, equipment or supplies — or the badge, uniform, prestige or influence of one's official position. On its face that rules out uniformed detail work entirely.

Then comes the exception, and it is unusual in who it puts in charge. Secondary employment in uniform may be permitted where the Board of Police Commissioners — the civilian body overseeing the Department — determines that the employment is in the best interest of the City, promotes the Department's interest in public safety, and involves duties substantially the same as those the employee would perform on duty.

Elsewhere a chief signs off on the uniform: Chicago's Superintendent, on the employer's written request; New York reserves it to the Paid Detail Unit. In Los Angeles it takes a decision of the police commission itself.

Approval, and an appeal that leaves the building

An employee may not begin secondary employment without first submitting a summary of the proposed duties, the location and the employer, and may not change the nature or location of the work without submitting the change for review first.

Once approved, the work is reviewed annually — upon the employee's own initiative. The department does not chase it; the obligation to renew sits with the officer, and continuing employment that has been found incompatible is misconduct.

The decision is made by the concerned commanding officer and forwarded to the Office of Support Services for approval. And then the appeal route, which is the most striking part: an employee may appeal to the Chief of Police, and may appeal the Chief's determination to the Board of Police Commissioners for administrative review.

In almost every other agency in this section the chief, sheriff or superintendent is the end of the road. Here a refused permit can be taken past the Chief to a civilian board.

What this page cannot tell you

The manual states the policy; it does not publish rates, a coordinator, or how a business books an officer. The permit itself — the Permit for Secondary Employment, Form 01.47.00 — is named but not reproduced.

One neighbouring rule is worth knowing because it comes from the same instinct. Employees are prohibited from buying, or trying to negotiate to buy, vehicles or vehicle parts from any Official Police Garage, or from any auction where they knew or should have known the item had been impounded, booked, seized or forfeited in an investigation any Department employee took part in — whether or not they meant to keep, resell or drive it.

What the policy does give an officer is the shape of the thing: twenty hours, nothing while sick or injured, no investigative work and no stake in it, no badge or uniform without the Commission — and a written commitment from the employer before you start, because the City is not promising to stand behind you.

Common questions

How many hours a week can an LAPD officer work?

Twenty, exceedable only on a division commanding officer's recommendation and the approval of the Director, Office of Support Services.

Can an LAPD officer do private investigation work?

No, and it goes further than stopping: officers must divest any financial interest in a private investigative business. Traffic collision reconstruction is the one exception.

Can a refusal be appealed?

Yes, and further than most: to the Chief of Police, and then to the civilian Board of Police Commissioners.