Police Moonlight

A global problem

Police moonlighting is not just a problem in the United States. Moonlighting is severally restricted or prohibited in Australia, England and Japan. It however is fairly common in one form or another in Canada and the USA (Bayley 1996).

Under Russian law, police are permitted to engage in only very limited outside employment. Under the Law of the Militia, permitted occupations are limited to those connected to teaching, research and the arts. One study of officers in Russia found that 49% of the over two thousand surveyed stated that they engaged in some type of outside work in their off hours. Eighteen percent also reported engaging in other work during their on-duty hours. Nearly all officers were engaging in work that is prohibited by the Law of the Militia. Most were working in some form of private security while off-duty. Almost half were working in transportation services off-duty and approximately 30 percent were working in retail/wholesale. Slightly under half reported working as private security during the hours in which they were employed as police officers. Low wages were described as the primary reason for taking additional employment. There was an average 72 percent increase in officer's monthly income as a result of their additional employment (Wilson, et al. 2008).

Slovenia forbids police officers from moonlighting in functions that overlap with those of police such as for private security companies or private detectives. Though illegal moonlighting was not observed by Sotlar and Meško, they suspect that it is occurring as it does in other countries with similarly restrictive policies (Sotlar & Meško 2009). Similarly in Brazil, Police moonlighting is prohibited by law, though it commonly occur...

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...and public safety

Moonlighting can prove to be a serious threat to officer safety. With fewer resources and increased fatigue, officers may be at greater risk for serious injury. Many officers are killed while moonlighting as private security (AIMS 1991). According to Brazil military statistics, the majority of military police killed in Brazil, were killed while moonlighting (Macaulay 2007). About nine percent of officers killed in the past decade in the USA were killed while off-duty. Though the report does not specify the officer's function beyond their status as off-duty, based upon the reported circumstance of the officer's death, thirty five cases could conceivable have occurred while moonlighting (FBI 2011). A search of the The Officer Down Memorial Page finds 61 deaths over the past few decades that occurred while the officer was moonlighting (ODMP 2011).