Getting approved to work off duty

Almost every department requires written permission. Here is what the form is actually asking, and why some applications come back refused.

Approval is normally required, and normally written

Almost every department requires permission before an officer works outside the job, whether that is a uniformed detail arranged through the agency or a second job that has nothing to do with policing.

The form usually asks for the employer, the kind of work, the hours, and whether you will be in uniform or armed. It generally goes up the chain rather than to one person, and in many departments it has to be renewed on a schedule rather than granted once.

Two different things that get muddled

Off-duty details and secondary employment are not the same category, even though one form often covers both.

A detail is police work: uniform, authority, usually arranged through or approved by the department, with the department having an interest in how it is performed. Secondary employment is any other job — a trade, a business, teaching, anything at all — where the department's interest is in whether it conflicts with the badge.

The approval process is often the same paperwork. The reasoning behind an approval or a refusal is not.

What tends to get refused

The categories that raise a problem are consistent across departments, even though the specifics vary:

Work where alcohol is the main business
Anything connected to bail, repossession, debt collection or process serving
Private investigation, and security work that overlaps with your own jurisdiction
Employment with a business under investigation, or one whose license your agency has a say in
Anything that could put you in a position where your authority and your paycheque point the same way

The common thread is conflict — real or apparent. A department that refuses an application is usually not questioning your judgement; it is avoiding a question it would rather not have to answer later.

The part officers forget

Approval is not permanent. If the employer changes, the hours change substantially, or the nature of the work changes, that generally needs a fresh application. Working under an approval that no longer describes what you are doing is the sort of thing that only becomes a problem when something else has already gone wrong.

Keep your own copy

Keep the approval, the date, and what it covers. If it renews, keep the renewal. Departments lose paperwork, supervisors transfer, and an approval you cannot produce is one you may as well not have had.

What needs approval, who grants it, how long it lasts and what is prohibited are set by your department's policy and your agreement. Read them rather than relying on what the shift told you.