Off-duty work begs a number of questions concerning liability on the part of the department and government partners. Maintaining officer safety and mitigating risk for government partners and LEAs is imperative in running an effective off-duty program.
Managing officer compliance
When it comes to risk management, prevention is key. Agency policies are set for a reason and monitoring compliance can help an agency stay ahead of any problems.
It’s essential that officers adhere to policy, like making sure an officer isn’t working more off-duty than policy permits. Monitoring hours helps to prevent officer fatigue, which can lead to a significant reduction in key performance abilities like decision-making, reaction times and information processing. GPS functionality also ensures every officers’ whereabouts should a question arise.
Transparency in off-duty, like having complete and accurate documentation of all jobs worked, is also necessary if and when an agency is audited.
Liability
While prevention is key, incidents and accidents do still occur. While an officer is working on duty, injury or damages fall to the department’s insurance policy. However, if such an incident occurs working off-duty, general liability, workers’ compensation and occupational accident insurance do not carry from their on-duty service.
It’s important to enlist an off-duty management system that offers insurance for off-duty jobs, protecting the officers, the department, the businesses and any persons in the community that may be affected by an incident. RollKall, for example, offers general liability (to protect the business), workers’ compensation (to protect the department and the officer) and occupational accident insurance (protecting the officer) in the event of an incident*.
Access to insurance provides a first line of defense in the event of an incident, bringing clarity to the responsible party and minimizing the risk of an agency or governmental insurance policy having a claim filed against it.
When it comes to mitigating risk, prevention is key and off-duty management software can help provide control and oversight into off-duty. In the event of an incident, knowing where the liability falls is the first step; access to supplemental insurance for the entire off-duty shift is imperative to protecting our officers.
*When jobs are invoiced and paid through the platform. Fees may apply.