How to Help Your Officers Find More Extra-Duty Work

It’s no secret that law enforcement officers across the country rely on extra-duty work to help pay the bills and support their families. While some of your officers may be all set with recurring jobs, some of your other officers might be struggling to find the off-duty work they need. Maintaining an extra-duty program is an integral part of both the community and police work.

So how can you help? 

Community Outreach 

While certain businesses and organizations within your community likely already have a relationship with your department and utilize your extra-duty program, many do not. Often businesses hire citizen security guards for various tasks, as they are unaware they can hire an officer instead. 

Have your officers speak with their existing off-duty clients about spreading the word to other businesses and organizations. Word of mouth about what a great job your officers and department do will help more jobs come in. 

Job Postings

It’s worth encouraging officers to monitor local job boards. As mentioned, many businesses do not realize they can hire uniformed off-duty officers for their security, and some make job postings looking for security help. A lot of businesses will actually prefer having a law enforcement officer over a citizen security guard. 

If your officers can find postings looking for security guards and get the job, there is a chance those jobs will turn into regular positions. Even if that specific officer can’t work every shift needed, someone else in your department might be able to fill in. 

Extra-Duty Management Solutions 

Aside from assisting with scheduling, management, payment, and more of your off-duty program, an extra-duty management solution like RollKall can help your officers to find more off-duty jobs. In addition to allowing agencies to handle more off-duty jobs simply by making job coordination faster and easier, officers can also apply for jobs at other agencies in neighboring jurisdictions.

You can also set up your own departmental policies, make only certain groups or officers available for certain jobs, assign jobs based on factors like seniority, hours worked, etc., and add in agency/coordinator fees. Your officers will have extended access to off-duty positions that they previously did not know were available, without taking away the recurring jobs some of your other officers have. 

Depending on where your department is located, finding off-duty positions may be a challenge for your officers. By taking these steps, you might be able to assist them in finding the extra work.