Amid a spike in violent crime in the U.S. during the pandemic, private businesses are increasingly hiring off-duty police officers to stand guard. In New York City, money generated through the police department’s paid detail program jumped by nearly 70% to $3.2 million in fiscal year 2021 from four years before, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office.
Unlike private security guards, officers are armed and able to make arrests, making them more attractive to businesses. But such programs, which also exist in San Francisco and New Orleans, bring their own set of problems, experts say. They can lead to uneven enforcement in the city, and they’ve raised concerns about the potential for fraud. Officials in San Francisco found evidence that some officers had been using sick days to work off-duty security shifts, which pay more.
Seth Stoughton, a University of South Carolina School of Law professor who studies the practice of police moonlighting, said the programs can help cities get uniformed bodies on the street that they’re not responsible for paying, as well as higher visibility in the places that can afford to employ off-duty officers. However, he said there’s no evidence that off-duty officers lower overall crime rates, and that such programs can also create tension between officers’ duty to the public and to the businesses.
