Two Ottawa police officers made more than $70,000 each, in addition to their base salaries, in just over a year and a half, thanks to lucrative paid-duty deals that see officers working, in uniform, but off duty.

The figures are among those obtained by Postmedia under access-to-information law that paints a much fuller picture of how frequently police officers in this city are taking advantage of a regulated and legal form of moonlighting.

While it’s difficult to calculate precisely how much work each of the officers did over the 19-month period starting in January 2015, they would have worked hundreds of paid duty hours amounting to several dozen eight-hour days.

Randy Lippert, a professor of criminology at the University of Windsor, who’s studying paid-duty policing, said in the course of his research, he hadn’t seen earnings so high, and questioned how officers could make that much while remaining within the rules.

“That’s very excessive,” Lippert said. “That’s really way out there.”

Ottawa police officers on the whole pulled in $6.4 million for paid-duty assignments during the 19 months covered by the documents.

Paid duty is when off-duty officers are hired to work in uniform in a variety of capacities, whether that’s guarding construction sites, directing traffic or providing security at festivals and concerts. The assignments are organized by the force, which takes a cut itself.





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That cut amounted to nearly $6.8 million in 2015, a total that has been growing yearly from nearly $4.1 million in 2011, notwithstanding a drop in 2012 to $3.4 million.

The force’s revenue covers the costs of administering the program — such as vehicle maintenance — and any surplus, which was $1.1 million in 2015, is folded back into the police budget, said Jeff Letourneau, the force’s chief financial officer.

Another Ottawa police officer pulled in $67,801 over the time frame covered in the documents, and four officers topped $50,000. The lowest earner — the 744th officer on the list — netted a mere $221.21 for his or her troubles. The numbers, the police pointed out, are before tax.

Redactions shield the identity of the officers in question and the details of the contracts. There are about 1,300 sworn members of the Ottawa Police Service.

Carleton University criminologist Darryl Davies wondered why officers were doing so much paid duty, especially in the context of complaints about the police being understaffed and claims that this is putting a strain on officers.

“What impact does this have on the quality of policing?” Davies asked. “You cannot do two jobs at the same time, I’m sorry. With all due respect, one of them is going to suffer.”

From Jan. 1, 2015 to Oct. 1, 2016, $13 million was spent on paid-duty policing; nearly 40 per cent of that was public spending by the city, the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, the federal government, and local schools, just to name a few. These sorts of arrangements have been around since the at least the 1950s, though they’re more heavily regulated now than they once were. As recently as the early 2000s, police in Windsor could work in bars doing security — for cash.

The Ottawa police force, however, is trying to scale back the program, citing concerns that officers must be available for police work first and foremost.

Meanwhile, city hall has looked for ways to save money by using private security or special constables for work currently done by paid-duty officers, such as directing traffic. “If we can allow special constables or auxiliary police, or even have volunteer firefighters deputized … I don’t think you need a police officer who’s making $100,000,” Mayor Jim Watson said last month.

It’s not just officers on offer — dogs, boats and cars can all be hired out as well. The work police officers can do outside the job is restricted, so it’s a way for officers to earn more money than they’re paid. Proponents of paid-duty policing also point out that there’s an added benefit of having cops out on the streets doing this work.

“To the extent that officer visibility deters crime … then it’s a benefit to everybody,” said Lippert. “Now, that’s never been kind of tested particularly closely or anything, but you could sort of imagine that may well be a benefit to the public at large.”

On the flip side, there has been concern that paid-duty work can look to the public like the officers are just loafing on duty, instead of doing proper work. “They don’t know necessarily that they’re getting paid extra, but they see that and they think, ‘Wow, is that really a good use of our resources?'” said Lippert.

Regarding the concerns about fatigue, though, the system is fairly thoroughly regulated, according to the Ottawa police and police union.

Staff-Sgt. Russ Lucas, who oversees the event planning section, which includes the paid-duty section, said in an interview that shifts are first offered up to officers who have worked fewer paid-duty hours. Ottawa police officers can’t work more than 15.5 hours in a 24-hour period, whether regular duty or paid duty.

“If somebody works 16 hours in a 24 hour period, we’d be looking to figure out what the explanation is,” Lucas said.

Paid-duty shifts, he explained, are usually four to 10 hours, and rarely more than 12, barring an exceptional circumstance, say, a traffic collision, that might keep a paid-duty officer on scene longer than normal. They cost the client, depending on the rank of the officer involved, $83.50 per officer per hour up to $103.50 per officer per hour. There are not, Lucas said, monthly or annual limits on paid-duty work.

So how’s it possible to do enough extra work to earn tens of thousands more dollars? Lucas says it all depends on the circumstances of individual officers. If they feel like working, they can.

“It may be a young officer who has no family commitments and if they’re working shift and they’ve got days off or if they’re off on their vacation for two weeks but they’ve got no plans, they may decide to work over their vacation period,” Lucas said.

Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof said officers who are stacking paid-duty work on top of regular work wouldn’t be working much harder than those who’re doing a lot of overtime as part of their job.

“It’s probably comparable to our investigative units, our major crime squad, etc., who are working that much overtime,” Skof said.

Lucas said the police service has kept track of the top 10 earning officers to make sure they’re performing as expected, and following the rules. When disciplinary issues do come up, Lucas said, supervisors often put in a call to the paid-duty section, and if there’s a link, “then we’ll remove their ability to do paid duties.” While he didn’t have a number handy, Lucas said there are officers on the force who’re unable to work paid duty. (Officers suspended from regular duty or on sick or disability leave are also prevented from doing paid-duty work.)

In spite of this seemingly successful setup, the force is trying to scale back some of its paid-duty commitments. This includes the hugely lucrative duty of providing hospital escorts to inmates, who must be guarded while getting treatment. But it also means the force is encouraging others to look elsewhere for their security needs.

“Part of the issue is we want to make sure we’re not … tapping our resources. Our first and foremost priority is dealing with our role as a police officer, this is a secondary duty,” said Lucas. “We also don’t want people working 80 hours a week, 40 weeks a year, either … we also don’t want to become the primary people providing security for these events.”

tdawson@postmedia.com

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