This is a question triggered by the Louisiana school board arrest.
If I’ve understood it correctly, the officer who handcuffed the teacher was an off-duty officer who was hired by the school board to provide security.
As we know, he arrested the teacher for some nebulous reason, after she left the meeting room in compliance with the direction from the chair.
My question is, can an off-duty cop hired by some agency exercise arrest powers? If the school board hired Joe Schmoe, non-police officer, to be their security guy, he couldn’t. So by hiring a police officer, who is not acting at the time for the police service, they get to have someone who can exercise arrest powers?
If I’ve understood that correctly, it seems a bit odd to me, but I’m open to correction. Hire an off-duty cop and you get someone with arrest powers, even though he’s not acting as a police officer at the time?
Basically, a cop is a cop, regardless of whether they are on duty or not. As I understand it, they are not required to act when they are able to do so but may. I’m sure there are many more caveats to the general principle.
So a police officer can get a personal financial benefit from wearing his uniform, which he only has because he’s a public official?
Here in Canada, I don’t think a cop could wear his uniform while doing private work.
A friend of mine was a Mountie and we went to see him singing in a barbershop evening. In addition to singing, he was in a skit, playing a cop. But he wore a city police uniform, not his RCMP uniform. When I asked him afterwards why he wore a city uniform (which he’d borrowed from a city constable), he explained that Mounties aren’t allowed to wear their uniforms off-duty in public, and definitely not for a personal event like barbershop singing.
The big exception is that a police officer’s authority only exists in his or her home state. Once they travel outside of their home state, they’re just another civilian.
Northern Piper, I am not sure why you are troubled. When you leave your office and go home, are you not still a lawyer? In the same vein, these officers are still sworn to uphold the law and clothed with the authority to do whatever they could otherwise do while on the job.
In light of the responses, I think I didn’t phrase my question properly. I think I’m really surprised that a police officer appears to be able to make a personal profit from their public office, i.e. by wearing the uniform while doing private security. Is that common?
I didn’t read the linked article, but I did notice it’s over 40 years old. However, some of this may depend on the jurisdiction. I know in Milwaukee things have gone back and forth a bit. One of our chiefs (or sheriffs), years ago, had decided that 'a cop is a cop, 24/7. IIRC, he decided that even off duty, they were to carry their gun/badge/handcuffs. I could be a bit off on the details, I’m sure PK can fill it in, but the idea was that if they happened to see someone committing a crime, the had the ability (and the duty) to do something about it. I’m not sure what the current policy is.
As for the an off duty cop working as security, that’s very common. I would wager that at the very least they could detain them until the “real” police get there if it was a case where civilian could do the same thing.
I have a cop acquaintance that I’m hoping to hear from soon (open case WRT my store). I know he does some security work on the side, I’ll have to ask him if I see him.
But is the police officer wearing their police uniform at the time? Most private security guards seem to have their own uniform, which resembles a police uniform but isn’t one.
Maybe. When I go to Target, and there is a uniformed police officer there working security, he or she is working through this program.
But aside from the uniform question , a police officer is a police officer 24/7. Each department almost certainly has its own rules regarding what they *expect *of their off-duty officers, but I would really be shocked if there was any jurisdiction in the US where an off-duty officer could not legally arrest someone. I am a peace officer (not a police officer) and I can legally arrest someone when I am off-duty , even though my agency’s policy doesn’t require me to do anything when I am off-duty. (I don’t even have to call 911).
You have to separate whether this particular arrest was reasonable from the question of whether the officer retains the authority to arrest when he is off-duty. Suppose the incident at the school board was different. Say that the teacher had pointed a gun at the superintendent - do you want the off-duty officer to be able to arrest that teacher? I imagine you would. Change it a different way- let’s say everything happened the way it did except for one thing. The officer was not working a second job. Instead, he was on-duty and was assigned to be present at that meeting because the police chief thought the meeting needed security. Does that make a difference in your opinion of the arrest? I’m guessing not.
Here in Minnesota at least, being hired out as private or event security is handled by the police departments in question. Police don’t work for private security firms, they work for the police department, which hires them out (at overtime rates) to places that need an off-duty police officer for security purposes.
So they’re not being hired and paid directly by Securitas (the Walmart of security guard companies, for one example), they’re still being paid by the police department for that activity.
But if the officer isn’t wearing a police uniform, the deterrent effect is marginalized, no?
Plus, if the office isn’t wearing a police uniform, only a Securitas or Garda uniform, how could someone be charged with resisting arrest or failing to obey a police order? (which seems to be the point watchwolf is making in the other thread.)
#1, It’s no more of a “personal profit” than any other type of wage; and #2, it doesn’t matter where the money is coming from, because the officer is still providing a public benefit. And #3, if you want to get picky, it’s ALL private money–the only difference is that in one case, it passes through government hands before the officer is paid, and in the other case, it passes through a private company first.
My younger brother used to be a Louisiana police officer for the Louisiana State University system before he became a Coast Guard Officer. Yes, a police officer is generally an officer at all times and their arrest powers extend to the entire state. It is a sworn position and it doesn’t go away just because they put on a different set of clothes. A lot of them are armed at all times as well even when wearing civilian clothes. They typically carry a badge that they can identify themselves with in case of confusion with another officer (it is typically a felony for anyone else to try to fake that).
Even private entities, like colleges and universities, commonly have their own full police departments with their own officers. That is basically a permanent detail. They can also make arrests anywhere in the state but their typical jurisdiction usually justs extends to campus matters and they have to coordinate with the other police departments that are in the same city or town to make sure there is no duplication of effort.
Some police officers in Massachusetts make a whole lot of money doing paid overtime details for private events. I am sure there are some rules but they are allowed just like they are in most states.
Our county has Auxiliary sheriff deputies. They work the ball games and parades and other events in the county. They also muster up if there is a search or road block situation. They are not armed, they have a different color uniform. We call them the Barney Fifes, rude, of course. But, I don’t really feel safe when they are in charge.
In LA, there are uniformed police at movie locations, but I believe the situation is as described above–the production company pays the PD, who arrange for (paid) off-duty cops to be there.
What about at sporting events? Does the team reimburse the police or is it part of the department’s duty to protect the public? Police security at Dodger Stadium doesn’t seem over the top but at Yankee Stadium it was crazy–dozens of cops with automatic weapons and dogs.