Madison and outside employment

It starts in the city ordinance, not the manual

The standard operating procedure exists to carry out three sections of the Madison General Ordinances — 5.03(2), 3.53(19) and 3.35(5)(c). The department's own words are that the procedures “implement the mandates of the Ordinance”, which puts the authority in the city code and the mechanism in the SOP.

The policy itself is one sentence of principle: part-time employment is permitted only where it does not interfere with, nor diminish, the employee's ability to perform their duties, and is in keeping with the standards and dignity expected of City employees.

There is no hour cap in it at all. No weekly ceiling, no daily maximum, nothing about the gap before a shift. Florida Highway Patrol caps a trooper at 72 hours a week combined; Oklahoma City at 16 in any 24; Milwaukee, up the road, at 20 hours a week. Madison sets no number and asks a question instead.

One thing is barred outright

Employment by other law enforcement agencies in a police capacity will not be allowed. Flat, unqualified, and the only absolute prohibition in the document.

It is a rule that appears across this section in several forms and for the same reason. Pennsylvania State Police bar members from serving as magistrates, constables, deputy sheriffs or other law enforcement officers. Los Angeles County bars a second peace officer position under state law. Madison states it in a single line.

This agency492

Median of the 48682

Largest here33,721

One of 48 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.

Four things get a hard look

Rather than a list of banned industries, the SOP names four kinds of employer that receive careful review — to assure the work does not conflict with the public interest or present the appearance of favouritism towards the company:

An establishment holding any Class A, B or C alcohol beverage license of any type. Work as a cab driver. Work as an insurance investigator. And employment with any company that holds a municipal license.

That last one is the interesting category and it is broader than it first looks: a municipal license is issued by the same city that employs the officer, so the concern is not the industry but the relationship. Chicago and Philadelphia bar towing and repossession because police authority could collect a debt; Madison flags the licensed company because the City is on both sides of it.

Underneath sits a catch-all: employment will not be approved in any other capacity that is not in keeping with the high standards expected of a Madison officer.

Four desks, and the Chief signs it

The request goes in on an Outside Employment Form to the employee's Commanding Officer, who weighs two things: the nature of the employment — its hours, its location, and the personal and professional hazards involved — and the anticipated effect on the employee's ability to do their departmental duties.

From there it travels. The Commanding Officer forwards it with a recommendation to the Police Executive Office Supervisor, who consults the appropriate Assistant Chief of Police; the Assistant Chief makes a recommendation to the Chief of Police; and the Chief confirms or denies it.

For a two-page procedure covering a city of Madison's size, that is a lot of signatures — and unusually, none of them is delegated. Elsewhere in this section a division commander or a shift captain is the end of the road for an ordinary request.

The paperwork afterwards is specific: the original comes back to the individual marked either way, one copy goes in the personnel file, and the Police Executive Office Supervisor updates the Outside Employment tracking spreadsheet. Almost nothing else in this section says where the record is kept.

A report every January, and the Chief can end it

Approval is not permanent and it is not renewed on the anniversary of the job. Any employee engaged in outside employment submits a report to their Commanding Officer in January of each year, and at any other time the nature or conditions of the employment change. The Commanding Officer then reviews whether to let it continue.

The Commanding Officer may decide at any time, for any reason, that continuing is not in the department's best interest. They tell the employee, then prepare a written report of their reasons for the Police Executive Office Supervisor to put before the Chief.

And here is the part worth keeping: the employee is permitted to submit a statement with the Commanding Officer's report. The adverse recommendation and the officer's answer travel to the Chief together. Very little else in this section builds a reply into the process.

If the Chief determines that continued outside employment is not in the department's best interest, the Chief shall order the employee to terminate it. Not decline to renew — order it ended.

What this page cannot tell you

The SOP is two pages and it deals with permission. It says nothing about what an officer may wear on a second job, whether a squad car may be used, who carries the liability, what happens on an injury, or what any of it pays.

Madison does run a Special Duty Employment programme through which organisations request officers, and that is a separate arrangement from the outside employment covered here. This page has not read its terms.

Vehicles

This policy does not deal with vehicles — it does not say whether an agency car may be taken on an off-duty job, or what one costs. That is a gap in the document, not a prohibition.

Common questions

How many hours can a Madison police officer work off duty?

The SOP sets no limit. Part-time employment is permitted where it does not interfere with or diminish the officer's ability to perform their department duties — the test is interference, not hours.

Can a Madison officer work for another police department?

No. Employment by other law enforcement agencies in a police capacity is not allowed, and it is the only absolute prohibition in the procedure.

Who approves outside employment in Madison?

The Chief of Police, on a recommendation that has passed through the Commanding Officer, the Police Executive Office Supervisor and an Assistant Chief.