Using Off-Duty Officers for Personal Gain is Bad Practice

A few weeks back, I had a brief discussion with a fellow event professional regarding the private use of off-duty police officers. Her opinion was that hiring an off-duty officer is an effective means of assisting large groups with accessing the venue quickly and easily (in this particular instance, clients). The implication being that the expertise and demeanor of the contracted officer can help “grease the wheels” when dealing with venue staff and crowd situations. Not surprisingly, there was some disagreement as to whether or not this was a good idea. Her experience with the practice has been nothing but positive, while my experience (as a former venue manager) has tended to be less-than stellar. On the surface, it may seem like an great arrangement for everyone involved. Your group has has an easy time accessing and exiting the event, aided by someone trained in handling crowd situations, and who carries themselves with purpose and authority. The off-duty officer earns a nice side income for relatively easy night of work (hopefully).

You won’t find another event producer more supportive of the police than me - they’re overworked, paid too little for the service they provide, and are woefully disrespected by far too many people. So I’m usually all for any opportunity they can get to better their personal situation. That said, I find the practice of using off-duty officers for individual groups to be disrespectful to your fellow patrons, to venue employees and management, and to all on-duty officers working the event. It creates an unnecessary tension between all parties involved, for the limited benefit of a few select people.

The problem is not with the officers themselves. Rather, what you (the contracting agent) are asking them to do. Whether direct or implied, you’re asking them to use their professional qualifications to direct, influence, and/or cajole the venue and other guests into giving your group priority treatment. You’re asking them to imply authority where they have none, and to leverage their expertise in an effort to avoid the same procedures and cattle-lines as everyone else. This inevitably creates issues with the venue’s staff, who are trained to enforce venue policy without exception.

When a fresh-faced 18-year-old security guard has someone claiming to be an off-duty officer telling her to act against established procedure, imagine the dilemma you’re creating. Break policy, or go against a police officers orders (off-duty or not, something we teach kids NEVER to do). If she opts to break policy, she risks termination, and her authority with the rest of the crowd is immediately destroyed. If she manages to hold fast and refuse, or punts the request to a superior, the “influence” you’re paying the off-duty officer for becomes suspect, damaging HIS credibility in your (and your client's) eyes, and have created precisely the delay you were attempting to avoid in the first place. Not to mention that on-duty officers working events have little tolerance for freelance business that undermines the policies they've been brought in to enforce. It's a situation that has many losers...yet no real winners.

One might argue that this “influence peddling” isn't the intent at all. However, if this is true, what exactly are you paying for? If you intend on following the established event rules and procedures, then there’s nothing that this officer can do for you that couldn't be done by your next door neighbor or 13 year old son. Be honest with yourself - you were looking to avoid dealing with the same troubles and annoyances as every other event patron. Unfortunately, creating difficulties for a fellow event professional is the never the way to go about it, nor is putting an off-duty officer in the position of acting against his professional nature and training. If you’re looking for preferential treatment, there are a number of “approved” ways of going about it. VIP Packages, priority entrances, or even just arriving early are much better ways of avoiding the hassle. You can even contact the event producer beforehand and see what can be arranged...who knows, you may even be able to hustle a bit of future business out of the deal.