Do most officers have second/side jobs

[studentcj]

just curious

[Legoate]

Nope.

[Safety Steve]

I know some that work part-time jobs. I do not know any with a full-time secondary job. The agency I work for can call you to work at any given moment. It would not work out doing a full-time secondary job here. Be Safe.

[retdetsgt]

Nope. Life's too short to work two jobs.

[BP348]

Just about all the City, State, & local LEO's I know work part time side jobs. Security at local clubs or concerts, that type of thing.

Most say it pays really well.

I don't know about the other federal agencies but with USBP you must get prior written approval for outside employment.

[phantasm]

On my tour (midnights), I work with about 40-50 other cops, and of those, I would say that less than 10% have a second job. I'm not saying that this is a accurate representation of all departments across the country, or of even my job, but saying "most" I will have to disagree with that.

[nate1]

This is true where I work,most jobs pay between $30 and $40/hour. I try to to work one or two gigs a week.

Just about all the City, State, & local LEO's I know work part time side jobs. Security at local clubs or concerts, that type of thing.

Most say it pays really well.

I don't know about the other federal agencies but with USBP you must get prior written approval for outside employment.

[retdetsgt]

On my tour (midnights), I work with about 40-50 other cops, and of those, I would say that less than 10% have a second job. I'm not saying that this is a accurate representation of all departments across the country, or of even my job, but saying "most" I will have to disagree with that.

Same here. A few guys have small farms or something like that. The pay is good enough most don't have to. And it's not that hard to get OT which is a hell of a lot more per hour than you can make somewhere else.

When my kids were in college, I transferred to homicide where I could make OT. Someone in uniform who works any night shift just has to pick up the pace writing tickets and they will get a minimum of 4 hours OT just to show up in court.

We aren't allowed to wear our uniform in any capacity outside work anyway and have to get permission from the dept. for anything else.

[greg72982]

I'm part-time status working a steady 40 hours a week, but I just picked up a second part-time police job. My social life will be ruined, but I don't have much of one anyway.

That is not very uncommon around this area and I think it would be safe to say there are many more part-time officers in this state than full-time. Some are working three or four jobs, so I guess it could be worse.

[phantasm]

Same here. A few guys have small farms or something like that. The pay is good enough most don't have to. And it's not that hard to get OT which is a hell of a lot more per hour than you can make somewhere else.

When my kids were in college, I transferred to homicide where I could make OT. Someone in uniform who works any night shift just has to pick up the pace writing tickets and they will get a minimum of 4 hours OT just to show up in court.

We aren't allowed to wear our uniform in any capacity outside work anyway and have to get permission from the dept. for anything else.

The state is in charge of traffic court, and assigns us two dates a month. We only get notified to appear, if we have a case scheduled for that date. If I write 2-3 moving violations/month that will be fought (red light), I can almost guarantee myself 3 hours/month of OT just from that alone (I work midnights, so its on overtime).

Additionally I can make more money making an arrest on a weekend (not that difficult), and sit around waiting for the ADA to call me to draw up the case, than I'll ever be able to make on a side job.

[Bob Loblaw]

i work 2 extra jobs...every week, I work 6 hours as a courier, and every other week (in addition to the courier thing) I work security at a movie theater for 9 hours. I'd prefer not to work so much, but the extra money is enabling my wife to stay home with my 18 month old son instead of having to go back to work. For me, it's definitely worth it.

[retdetsgt]

The state is in charge of traffic court, and assigns us two dates a month. We only get notified to appear, if we have a case scheduled for that date.

Some of our traffic guys go to court nearly everyday. If it's not for regular traffic court, it's for a DUI. Most of them manage to make at least one DUI pinch a night. Those that work one of the night shifts can make as much, if not more money than a captain.

I was expected to write a minimum of 5 or 6 moving violations a month, which wasn't hard if you stayed awake most of the night. I didn't get much traffic court though because I only wrote them most flagrant violators who usually pled guilty.

But I mostly worked high crime areas where felony arrests were fairly common. I got a lot of grand jury and regular criminal court. A couple of years before I got promoted, I was getting burned out so I transferred to a sleepy little middle class neighborhood. Working graveyard there, about the only crime was car prowlers. My OT dropped to nearly nothing. But my dept is such that I was sort of master of my own income. Fortunately, my financial situation never got so bad that I ever had to consider working traffic!

Every year, the local paper publishes the name and position of the city employee that made the most money the previous year. Most of the time, it's a police radio dispatcher who's worked a ton of OT. One year, it was a Sgt. assigned to drugs. But that's another story.....

[CCBlueMan]

I work a second job, especially since my agency didn't get a raise this year. Many of the other officers I work with also work second jobs, even if it just security at local school sporting events.