Milwaukee and off-duty work

Three categories, split by who holds the contract

Milwaukee divides second jobs three ways and the dividing line is not the work — it is who the customer contracts with.

Extra-duty employment is work paid for and contracted by the Milwaukee Police Department itself, outside a member's regular hours, conditioned on the actual or potential use of police powers. Off-duty employment is separate and detached from the department, performed in a non-law-enforcement capacity. Special events are those requiring a permit from the city's Department of Public Works, and may be staffed either by extra-duty members or by on-duty personnel.

One line in the definitions is worth setting against Oklahoma City. Milwaukee defines employment as providing a service whether or not for a fee, and then says: employment does not include volunteer work for charitable organisations. Oklahoma City pulls volunteering and charity work expressly into its permission regime where the uniform is the reason you are wanted. Same question, opposite answer.

Throughout, the framing is the same: off-duty work is not an inherent right, but a privilege granted at the discretion of the Chief of Police.

Good standing is a live status, not a one-off check

Eligibility rests on being a member in good standing, and continued approval is contingent on staying one. What makes this different from an annual review is who is obliged to speak up.

Commanding officers must give written notice to the Chief when anyone under their command stops being in good standing — an unsatisfactory disciplinary record, poor work performance, or a poor attendance record including being placed on sick leave substantiation. Internal Affairs must notify the Chief when a member becomes the subject of an open internal investigation involving integrity, or a pending criminal or personnel investigation for an egregious allegation. The Chief then decides, case by case, whether that member still works.

A member serving one or more days of suspension cannot work extra-duty or special event employment in that pay period at all. And the door reopens the same way it closed: written notice back to the Chief, and Tactical Planning and Logistics returns the member to the eligibility list.

The status bars are precise. No work while on medical leave, limited duty, an old duty injury or an on-duty injury. No work while on a leave of absence — and a member returning must work their next scheduled regular shift first. Not full duty when you sign up, not eligible. Using a compensatory off day, not eligible — unless a supervisor calls you as a replacement on the day and you convert it to holiday, vacation or sick leave incentive time. On a furlough day, not eligible, with an exception written in for reimbursable overtime at American Family Field and Fiserv Forum.

New police members are out for their first sixteen months. Civilian members are eligible from the day they are hired.

This agency1,716

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.

Thirty-two hours a fortnight, twenty in a week

The cap has two numbers and they bind together: police members may work up to 32 hours biweekly, but not more than 20 hours in any one calendar week, on a non-cumulative basis. So a quiet fortnight does not bank hours for a busy one.

During non-segmented vacation periods the ceiling rises to 40 hours a week.

Set against the rest of this section, twenty is at the strict end — New York and Los Angeles allow 20 and 24 respectively, Florida Highway Patrol 72 combined, and Madison, an hour and a half up the interstate, publishes no cap at all. Milwaukee also states plainly that this employment may not interfere with the Chief's right to schedule or assign overtime: the department's own call on your time comes first.

The prohibited list, and the two entries that stand out

Fourteen categories are named. The familiar ones are all here — process serving, bail bonding, repossession, bill collecting, towing, or any other employment in which police authority might be used to collect money for private purposes; adult entertainment; premises selling pornographic merchandise; criminal defense work; investigatory work of any kind, including insurance investigations and working as an investigator for an attorney.

Two go further than most. Working as a security guard, a “bouncer”, or for a private security company is barred outright — the very work that half the agencies in this section exist to regulate, Milwaukee simply refuses. And “any other law enforcement or corrections agency, or contractor of law enforcement or corrections services” is prohibited, which closes the second-badge question the way Madison and Pennsylvania do.

A police member may not serve or sell beer, wine or liquor in any capacity; a civilian member may request permission to. Transporting or protecting money or valuables — armoured car work, ATM technicians — is out. So is any employment that involves wearing a police uniform, which is what pushes uniformed work into the extra-duty channel where the department holds the contract.

And a member on any of it is subject to call-out in an emergency and may be expected to leave.

Approval runs two years, and the department disclaims liability

Off-duty employment is requested on a Department Memorandum, form PM-9E, sent through the chain of command to the Chief. It has to name the business and its address, the type of business, a detailed description of the exact duties, and any known potential conflict. The commanding officer recommends on the basis of work history and performance; the Chief approves or denies.

Written approval is valid for two years, and the member re-files once notified it is nearing its end. Most agencies here renew annually; Oklahoma City renews every six months. But if the duties described in that memo change — before or during the employment — the member must immediately submit another memorandum, and the Chief decides whether it continues.

On liability the SOP is as blunt as anything in this section: the Milwaukee Police Department will not accept liability when members are engaged in off-duty employment. The reasoning is given in one sentence — members so engaged are working outside the limits of their police authority or duty, and are enforcing rules made in the interest of an off-duty employer. Oklahoma City presumes the opposite the moment an officer takes police action; Milwaukee draws the line at the employment itself.

Extra duty is run like a contract shop

Tactical Planning and Logistics evaluates, plans, coordinates, schedules and posts every extra-duty and special event assignment. Contracts must be approved by the Chief, run a year or less, and may not exceed $50,000 without the Milwaukee Common Council.

What the department will contract for is a short list: traffic control and pedestrian safety, crowd control, security and protection of life and property, and police services for tax-exempt public or quasi-public entities and the areas adjacent to them. What it will not contract for mirrors the prohibited list — adult entertainment, premises with a history of criminal activity, moving money, investigatory functions, debt collection.

Assignments are posted for sign-up, generally for ten days, and distributed through a seniority-based fair sheet system, with priority to members on a regular, vacation or holiday day off, and preference where an assignment needs a particular skill — canine, motorcycle, bicycle, the Major Incident Response Team. The approval email is the official notification and carries the uniform and equipment the detail needs, squad car included.

Accountability runs upward as well: before 1 April each year the unit reports to the Chief on every extra-duty and special event contract of the previous year — each event, the officers requested against the number that actually worked, whether the invoice was paid or is outstanding, and the total cost.

Canceling costs weeks, and you cannot send a friend

This is the part no other agency here spells out, and it is worth an officer knowing before signing up.

Cancel an assignment by contacting a Tactical Planning and Logistics supervisor: ineligible for four weeks. Cancel with less than 72 hours' notice: six weeks. Fail to report with no notification at all: ten weeks. Being more than thirty minutes late counts as a failure to report, and a late member can be replaced on the spot.

Notification must be in person or by phone to a member of the unit, within its Monday-to-Friday office hours. Voicemail and email do not satisfy it.

And members are prohibited from finding their own replacements. The unit fills the gap. New York suspends a member indefinitely for working an assignment scheduled by someone else; Milwaukee comes at the same problem from the other end by making the swap impossible to arrange privately.

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 off-duty hours can a Milwaukee officer work?

Up to 32 hours biweekly and no more than 20 in any one calendar week, non-cumulative, rising to 40 hours a week during non-segmented vacation periods.

Can a Milwaukee officer work security off duty?

No. Working as a security guard or bouncer, or for a private security company, is on the prohibited list, as is any employment involving wearing a police uniform. Uniformed work runs through the department's own extra-duty contracts instead.

Is a Milwaukee officer covered while working off duty?

The SOP states the department will not accept liability for members engaged in off-duty employment, on the basis that they are working outside the limits of their police authority and enforcing rules made in an off-duty employer's interest.

What happens if you cancel an extra-duty assignment?

Four weeks off the list for a cancellation, six weeks if it comes with less than 72 hours' notice, and ten weeks for failing to report. More than thirty minutes late counts as failing to report.