New Orleans Police and secondary employment

Nobody arranges their own work

This is the structural difference, and everything else follows from it. The City has established an Office of Police Secondary Employment, and it is the department's sole contact source for every element of detail work.

Officers may not individually or cooperatively coordinate opportunities. They may not contact that office to request a specific assignment. A business that approaches an officer directly must be referred to the office rather than dealt with. Assignments are distributed as equitably as the office can manage, from a register of who has volunteered and when they are available.

Payment runs the same way. Compensation comes through the office's payroll, and officers are not authorized to accept payment or gratuities directly from a customer — the policy ties that to the state ethics code. Nominal food or drink is the permitted exception.

Working a detail outside that system is treated at the top of the scale. The compliance appendix says a detail worked off the books is grounds for discipline up to termination on a first offence.

Getting on the register

A member completes a secondary employment agreement and authorisation form, submitted with a copy of their attendance record for the previous twelve months, and routed through the chain of command for final approval by the Superintendent.

Approval runs until the last day of the member's next birth month — so, like Seattle, renewal falls on a personal anniversary rather than a common date.

Every reviewing supervisor is required to weigh the attendance record, with all sick leave use considered, alongside overall work performance and discipline. A supervisor who declines has to write the specific reason on the form and keep routing it upward rather than stopping it.

Only a certified commissioned member who has completed field training may work police-related details. Approval is reviewed periodically during the year rather than simply left to run.

Two limits, and the second is unusual

The weekly ceiling is 24 hours of secondary employment across a Sunday-to-Saturday week. Exceptions exist for events where staffing demand is extreme — the policy names Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras — but they must be applied for in advance and approved by the Superintendent before the hours are worked.

The daily limit is 16 hours and 35 minutes in any 24-hour period, counting regular hours, overtime, court time and detail work together. Put the other way round, which is how the policy puts it: there must be 7 hours and 25 minutes of unpaid, off-duty time in every 24-hour period.

And here is the part worth reading twice. That 24-hour period is a rolling window with no reset at midnight. A shift starting at 6.25am opens a window running to 6.25am the next day. A detail starting at 4pm that same day opens another one. Each is assessed separately, even where they overlap.

The compliance appendix works through examples because it plainly catches people out. An officer who worked a regular shift, some overtime and a five-hour detail was in violation; the same officer with a four-hour detail would not have been.

Where you can work, and where you cannot

Details are confined to Orleans Parish, with traffic escorts the stated exception.

Bars and lounges are out — anywhere the primary revenue comes from alcohol consumed on the premises. Casinos, riverboat gaming and the video poker trade all require the Superintendent's prior approval rather than being flatly barred.

The prohibited-activity list is long and specific: private investigation, bartending or serving, working as a doorman or bouncer or ticket taker, security for bail bond companies or bounty hunters, debt collection, couriering cash or deposits, civil process serving, pawn shops, and sexually oriented businesses. Chauffeur work is out unless driving is secondary to a security purpose — though motorcycle escorts for limousines are permitted.

Officers also may not work for a company that provides or brokers private guard services, except where a private firm is managing a listed major special event and the permit requires commissioned officers.

On the job

Within thirty minutes of starting, the ranking officer or the member phones a dedicated line and gives name, agency, badge number, employee ID, start and end times and the address. Communications enters it into the dispatch system.

Uniform is the full Class A or B with an authorized duty handgun. Task force and utility uniforms are not permitted, and plain clothes requires the Superintendent's approval in advance.

Rank still applies. A member working a detail cannot supervise someone of higher rank, and captains and above may only work details in supervisory roles. Sergeants and lieutenants can fill a lower-ranked vacancy but are paid at that position's rate.

A commissioned member working a detail handles police investigations arising within the assignment area, writes the reports through their own chain of command, and notifies the on-duty district supervisor for anything classified as a serious crime.

Two things about vehicles

Department vehicles are provided only where they serve a practical purpose for the assignment — the policy says explicitly, not for the member's comfort, and not simply as transport to and from the job. Use has to be approved, and availability is at the discretion of the member's own unit captain.

Unmarked vehicles cannot be used for traffic escorts or any assignment involving enforcement action unless they carry front and rear emergency lighting.

The warning worth carrying away concerns your own car. A privately owned vehicle used on a detail is not an authorized emergency vehicle under state law and is not covered by the City's liability insurance. The policy states plainly that a member using one does so without approval and at their own risk.

Travel time to and from a detail is not compensated unless the work involves specialised patrol services or equipment, and officers are told to leave at least fifteen minutes between shifts.