Dallas police to drastically cut the number of hours officers can work off-duty jobs
The Dallas Police Department is going to slash the number of hours officers can work off-duty jobs — from 72 hours each week to just 40.
That’s in response to a November 2018 City Hall audit that said officers are taking too many off-duty jobs and working far too many hours for employers who aren’t the citizens of Dallas. Some officers were working 40 hours on the clock, then sometimes nearly twice that amount at side gigs, creating potential health risks for officers and safety concerns for the people they’re tasked with protecting, the audit said.
Citing the department’s general orders, it noted, “Working extra jobs is a privilege and not a right.”
The department expects the new guidelines to take effect in August 2020.
Lt. James Lewis, who works in Chief U. Renee Hall’s office, broke the news Tuesday to the Dallas City Council’s Public Safety Committee, which appeared to have no issues with the drastic cut to off-duty hours. Nor, for that matter, did Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, especially in the wake of recent pay raises that, among other things, took DPD’s starting pay from $49,000 to more than $61,000.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/11/12/dallas-police-to-drastically-cut-the-number-of-hours-officers-can-work-off-duty-jobs/
