Mendham Borough 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 Mendham Borough's own ordinance, and it says what the town charges.

What the ordinance charges

What the officer's time costs: Officer $70/hour; administrative fee $12/hour. Minimum per job: as stated above where verified; otherwise not stated

This agency13

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.

The car, and what it costs

The vehicle is priced separately: $15 per hour; $50 per-day minimum

Whether the car may go at all: provided.

In the ordinance's own words: “numeric vehicle provision verified in the cited municipal code”

66 of the 141 New Jersey towns here price the car by the hour, from $5 to $60. Mendham Borough sits below the middle of them at $15, with 21 charging less.

How the work is arranged

Who approves it: Chief of Police / Police Department under the cited municipal provision How a job is arranged: municipal Police Department extra-duty/off-duty procedure; third-party administration where expressly stated How the officer is paid: municipal payroll/extra-duty process where stated What is barred: subject to Department approval and regular/emergency-duty requirements where stated

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 Mendham Borough'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.

• $15 per hour; $50 per-day minimum

Every agency here, side by side on vehicles →

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Common questions

What does an off-duty Mendham Borough police officer cost?

Officer $70/hour; administrative fee $12/hour.

Does Mendham Borough charge for the police vehicle?

$15 per hour; $50 per-day minimum

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.