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

What the ordinance charges

What the officer's time costs: Off-duty law-enforcement officer $90/hour; $35/hour administrative fee; four-hour minimum; 24-hour cancellation requirement. Minimum per job: as stated above where verified; otherwise not stated

The car, and what it costs

The vehicle is priced separately: Police detail is established for construction/road-repair traffic control; separate numeric vehicle fee not stated in verified section.

Whether the car may go at all: provided, authorized, or expressly contemplated.

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

Most of the 141 towns here price the car by the hour or by the day; Northfield does neither, which is why the figure reads the way it does.

How the work is arranged

Who approves it: Chief of Police or designated municipal police authority as stated in cited code How a job is arranged: municipal Police Department / Chief-administered process as stated in cited code How the officer is paid: municipal payroll/escrow/contract process where stated What is barred: subject to regular/emergency-duty needs and Department approval 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 Northfield'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.

• Police detail is established for construction/road-repair traffic control; separate numeric vehicle fee not stated in verified section.

Every agency here, side by side on vehicles →

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Common questions

What does an off-duty Northfield police officer cost?

Off-duty law-enforcement officer $90/hour; $35/hour administrative fee; four-hour minimum; 24-hour cancellation requirement.

Does Northfield charge for the police vehicle?

Police detail is established for construction/road-repair traffic control; separate numeric vehicle fee not stated in verified section.

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.