Anne Arundel is becoming the battleground in the region over whether police officers can work part time in restaurants that serve alcohol because of the potential conflict of interest.
Police officers “work off duty to create a grander income stream for their families, but they are put in a tight situation between duty and their employer,” said Dan Carlson, director of the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration.
The state ethicscommission took exception with Anne Arundel County Council passing a law on this policy in September rather than receiving approval from its own ethics commission, which has opposed the policy because allowing police officers to work at places where they have to enforce liquor and gaming codes creates a conflict of interest.
County Executive John R. Leopold and County Council Chairwoman Cathy Vitale sent a letter Friday to the county?s ethics commission requesting that police officers be allowed to work at restaurants and bingo halls.
Policies on secondary employment for police officers should be set by the police departments, said Doug Ward, director of the Division of Public Safety Leadership at John Hopkins University.
“If properly managed, it does offer more opportunities for the officer and the community … [but] police departments have an obligation to make sure they closely supervise their officers,” he said.
Roughly half of the nearly 700 Anne Arundel officers have a second job, though the department could not readily say how many would be affected if the law changed.
This part-time work not only provides needed income for low-paid officers, but also an extra blanket of security at places where crime could happen, said O?Brien Atkinson, head of Anne Arundel?s Fraternal Order of the Police.
“It helps after-the-fact, when parties and clubs let out, we are there to maintain order,” said Agent Donny Moses, spokesman for the Baltimore City Police Department that allows officers to work outside as security for establishments that sell alcohol.
“They can work there, as long as [alcohol] is not the primary service of that business, and the officer cannot sell or distribute the alcohol,” said Sgt. David Betz, spokesman for the Harford County Sheriff?s Department that permits officers to work at these establishments but not at the bar or as bouncers.
Baltimore and Howard counties do not permit officers to work at establishments that sell alcohol, because they say it presents a conflict of interest.
BY THE NUMBERS
Starting salaries for law enforcement agencies
- Baltimore City: $41,058
- Baltimore County: $45,783
- Howard: $45,926
- Harford: $42,973
- Anne Arundel: $41,600
Source: Police Web sites
