Seattle Police and off-duty employment

The permit, and who signs it

Before any law-enforcement-related off-duty work, an officer submits an Off-Duty Employment Permit through the chain of command. The form has to name the employer, the street address where the work happens, and the specific duties — the policy expressly rejects vague entries like “various security”.

Two captains sign it, not one: the officer's own precinct or section captain, and the captain of the precinct where the work will take place. No work happens until both approvals are in writing.

There is a short-notice route. Where there is not time to process a permit, a sergeant from the officer's section or bureau can authorise the work, and that authorisation lasts four days while the permit catches up.

Permits run for a maximum of a year and expire on the officer's hire date, so renewal comes round on a personal anniversary rather than a common date.

Who is eligible, and what suspends it

Eligibility requires being a full-time employee, in good standing with all required training and certifications complete, and past the civil service probationary period.

It is suspended outright during sick leave for the officer's own illness, long-term disability, military leave, limited duty, family medical leave for their own condition, release time, suspension, and mandatory administrative reassignment during an accountability investigation.

A poor work record, a significant complaint history or discipline can also cost an officer their eligibility.

One exception runs through the top: the Chief may permit off-duty work during extended sick leave for an officer's own illness, on a written request supported by a doctor's recommendation, and the permission itself must be in writing.

The hours, and the rest rule

Two limits, and the second is the one that catches people.

Combined work must not exceed 64 hours a week — regular department shifts, department and court overtime, and off-duty law enforcement or traffic control work counted together. An officer on an approved full-time alternative schedule is treated as working a 40-hour week for this purpose.

And there must be a rest period of at least six consecutive hours in any rolling 24. Not six hours between shifts — six consecutive hours inside every 24-hour window, which is a harder test to satisfy when off-duty work is scattered around a rotation.

A lieutenant or above can waive the standard for departmental need, and exceptions exist for assignments like traveling or overnight security where a paid rest period is built in.

A floor on what you can be paid

Rare enough to be worth noting on its own. Officers and sergeants may only work law-enforcement-related off-duty jobs at a minimum rate of pay equal to the top step of police officer or sergeant respectively.

Total compensation meeting that floor can include benefits rather than cash alone — the policy names food as an example.

The effect is a department-set price floor on off-duty work, which is a different arrangement from agencies where the rate is whatever the customer and the officer agree.

Logging on, and logging it

An officer working off duty carries their portable radio and logs in with Communications at the start of the shift, giving their call sign, the business or event name and address, the hours, and whether they are in uniform or plain clothes.

There is a carve-out for stadium security where department supervisors are on scene and everyone is working a separate radio channel.

Every off-duty shift is then reported through the department's reporting system by the end of the officer's next department shift — one entry per shift, with the address, the person or business directing the work, and the hours worked.

Where an officer is flagging traffic for a construction company but is paid through a third party, the policy is explicit that the construction company gets recorded, not the intermediary.

What is prohibited

The list is long and some of it is specific to Seattle. Repossession, towing, process serving and bill collecting are out, as is any work where police authority might be used for a private civil purpose. So is anything requiring access to police files as a condition of the job, and any work assisting the defense in a criminal case.

Nightclubs and adult-entertainment venues are prohibited. So is work directly for establishments that sell or dispense alcohol, unless the department has authorized a business association to hire officers or the venue's main activity is something else — athletic events and hotels are the examples given.

Marijuana is a flat prohibition, covering both working for such a business and holding a financial interest in one. Private investigation businesses are prohibited, and owning a private security business has been barred since 1984.

Police work in uniform outside the city limits requires prior written approval from the chief of the agency with jurisdiction. Without it, no part of the Seattle uniform may be worn.

A supervisor may not work an off-duty job coordinated, brokered, supervised or scheduled by someone of lower rank in their own chain of command.

The Chief can waive these prohibitions for an officer investing in such a business before leaving the job, where they have committed in writing to retire within eighteen months.

If you take action, and if you are hurt

Taking enforcement action while working off duty does not automatically put an officer back on the clock. The off-duty employer pays for that time until the end of the off-duty shift.

The department may pay overtime where the action runs past the shift, or where policy required the officer to act and doing so stopped them performing the off-duty job. An on-duty sergeant approves it, before or as soon as practical afterwards.

The department can also call an officer off an off-duty job for a public safety emergency or to process an arrest, with call-back pay where they cannot get back before the shift ends.

On injury, the policy quotes the state pension statute directly: disability benefits are not paid where the officer is disabled while engaged for compensation in outside work that is not of a police nature. It also states that officers in the state's second-tier law enforcement retirement system are not covered by state industrial insurance for injuries resulting from off-duty employment.