Importance of Officer Wellness in Secondary Employment
PowerDetails provides opportunities to earn additional income while protecting officers from exceeding their physical & mental limits in the line of duty
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Secondary employment refers to Extra-Duty jobs, in which off-duty law enforcement officers provide their services to the local community.
While law enforcement officers arguably benefit the most from Secondary Employment opportunities, the additional income they earn can often come at the cost of their health and well-being.
The incentive to work more hours can push officers to exceed their physical and mental limits in the line of duty, which can lead to the development of fatigue.
What is Secondary Employment?
Secondary employment refers to Extra-Duty jobs, in which off-duty law enforcement officers provide their services to the local community.
Some examples include:
Special events, such as concerts and sporting events
Private venues such as movie theaters, restaurants, or churches
To prevent officer fatigue, law enforcement agencies must have the tools they need to enforce limits on Secondary Employment and promote policies that are both safe and fair.
Secondary Employment is a marketplace with 3 stakeholders
Businesses that desire security services from sworn law enforcement officers
Agencies who are responsible for the safety of the officers and the patrons of the businesses who hire them
Officers wishing to utilize their skills to increase their income and help their communities
Your Primary Partner for Secondary Employment
Schedule a no-risk, no-commitment Needs Assessment with a PowerDetails team member. We’ll review your agency’s off-duty & overtime process to identify areas for improvement.
How to Promote Safety & Fairness
Fairness brings wellness!
Implementing a system that facilitates, measures, and corrects Extra-Duty employment issues may sound complex, but the PowerDetails platform makes it easy to manage these details and automatically enforces agency policies that promote safety and fairness.
1.
Distribution
As your agency receives and approves job requests, PowerDetails will notify all eligible personnel and ensure that opportunities are distributed evenly between personnel, per your agency policies.
2.
Policies
Accreditation groups such as CALEA offer secondary employment guidance in standard 22.2.5 - Extra Duty Employment. Having policies in place prevent officers from working too many hours and mitigates the risk of officer fatigue. It is also common for agencies to receive requests for public records that pertain to Extra-Duty Employment. Incidents during Extra-Duty shifts create the need for historical records.
For this reason, agencies must be able to locate and report the following information:
Location
Dates / Times
Personnel Names
Pay Rates
Hours Worked
3.
Payments
How officers get paid matters a great deal. The system should avoid the following situations:
Cash Payments
Uncollected funds (Tracking Accounts Receivable to make sure each shift gets paid)
Non-Standardized rates where some business might pay more to some officers over others
Best practices suggest that the agency collect payments and pay the officers via Payroll in a separate line item for “Extra Duty.” These payments can be processed electronically, and officers receive 1099s for all wages received.
How to Identify Officer Fatigue
What is fatigue?
Fatigue can be caused by mental exertion, not just physical activity. And while fatigue is often temporary, it can also develop into unrelenting exhaustion that is not relieved by rest. When fatigue begins to impact an officer’s psychological and emotional well-being, safety becomes a genuine concern.
1.
Fatigue Effects & Impact
In 2018, the Fraternal Order of Police surveyed nearly 8,000 law enforcement officers and found that:
79% of participants have suffered critical stress in the line of duty
69% of participants reported that stressful experiences developed into unresolved/lingering emotional issues
90% of participants believe there is a stigma in law enforcement that prevents officers from seeking mental health treatment
2.
Fatigue Treatment & Prevention
How can the law enforcement industry take action against fatigue? 73% of the participants in the Fraternal Order of Police survey considered Peer Support as the most helpful form of treatment. In order to make peer support more accessible, there must be cultural changes in Law Enforcement that promote and support officer wellness.
Some ways that agencies can provide better support include:
Talking openly about mental health
Being conscious of language when discussing officer wellness
Educating officers about mental health and how to identify signs of fatigue
Promote Officer Wellness with PowerDetails
You set the policies. We make it easier to maintain & enforce them.
The PowerDetails platform utilizes a configurable Rules Engine that dictates who is eligible for certain jobs and who is not. It also makes job distribution fair among officers, protects officers from working too many hours, and protects the agency against liability risks.
The rules engine can automatically enforce hour and job limitations directly within the app without burdening the off-duty or overtime coordinator.
Since 2006, PowerDetails has...
Scheduled over 3 million jobs
Recorded more than 30 million off-duty hours
Processed more than $600 million collected from extra-duty / overtime jobs
Proudly serving hundreds of agencies with over 65,000 public safety personnel using PowerDetails
Our mission at PowerDetails is to help law enforcement agencies take accountability of their off-duty details and promote officer wellness through software solutions that are efficient, accurate, and fair.
The platform was designed to be configurable, which means every PowerDetails site is built with specific features based on each agency’s unique rules and policies.
Mitigate
Legal Risk
Liability and Occupational Hazard Insurance
Liability & Occupational Hazard Insurance
Protects armed workers and includes a waiver of subrogation for agencies and officers
Covers damage to premises, K-9’s, automobiles, assault, data, and privacy breach
Worker’s Compensation Insurance
Mitigate
Financial Risk
Guaranteed Accounts Receivables - PowerDetails will pay the officers even if the employer fails to pay
Officers are paid the week following job completion
Liability & Occupational Hazard Insurance
Officers can be paid via direct deposit or through City Payroll via an automated payroll feed to your system
PowerDetails will issue the Officers one 1099 at year end for all details worked
Benefits of PowerDetails
Officers
- Apply to jobs online from any phone, tablet, or computer
- Receive job notifications instantly
- Report hours remotely to get paid faster
Coordinators
- Post and assign jobs quickly and easily
- Reduce the number of phone calls, emails, & text messages
- Automate all billing & invoicing
Command Staff
- Auto-Enforce off-duty & overtime policies to prevent officer fatigue
- Ensure fair & equitable job distribution
- Reduce the risk of liability for the agency
Employers/Vendors
- Request off-duty officers in minutes
- Streamline communications with both the agency & off-duty personnel
- Process invoices directly in the app for swift & easy payments
Ready to schedule a Demo?
Whether you have 15 minutes or a full hour, a member of our team will gladly walk you through the PowerDetails platform.
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