Hollywood Revamps Off-duty Details

Preliminary Nod Given To New Law

October 19, 1995|By DAVID NITKIN Staff Writer

HOLLYWOOD - — The days of a handful of police officers controlling and profiting from lucrative off-duty assignments could be ending.

A new law revamping the way moonlighting jobs are assigned to police officers was preliminarily approved by the City Commission Wednesday. The law would force local businesses to go through the police department to hire off-duty officers. Currently, many businesses get extra officers through private security companies set up by individual officers.

The law was sponsored by Police Chief Richard Witt, who had repeatedly warned that flaws in the current system were exposing taxpayers to legal liability and preventing him from knowing where his officers were working.

Here's what had been happening:

Some police officers had incorporated to form private security companies, with names like Blue Knights and Asset Protection Management.

The private companies would arrange contracts with local businesses, such as car dealerships and supermarkets, to provide off-duty protection in shifts called "details."

Because the private security companies acted as middlemen, the local businesses never got needed permits or released the city from liability.

And the security companies often collected administrative fees for their services - profiting from guns, police cars and other equipment provided by taxpayers. The fee is frequently added to the regular $20 hourly wage paid to moonlighting officers.

Witt calls that arrangement "brokering."No other city runs their off-duty details that way, he said.

Brokering could now become illegal. An ordinance preliminarily approved by the City Commission Wednesday forces all local businesses to get permits directly from the police department, not from private security companies.

The law also reads that "no fees, charges or commissions of any kind shall be paid or collected for off-duty police service."

That should end the thousands of dollars yearly collected by some police officers, who sometimes add a $2-an-hour administrative fee for the detail assignments they oversee.

The law is expected to receive final approval next month.

It was drafted with the cooperation of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, which helped with changes even while denying that the Hollywood system was flawed.

Hollywood officers who owned security companies have said they weren't getting rich or wielding influence by controlling the details and collecting fees. They were simply providing a service for local businesses, they said.

But contending that the security companies frequently cloaked where and when officers were working to avoid scrutiny, Witt held firm for changes. Witt said he was disturbed to learn that there were regular after-hour assignments he never knew about.

He was supported on Wednesday by citizens who cheered his stance.

"We need to straighten out this problem that has been sidestepped for many years," said Sal Oliveri, a former Hollywood mayor.

The new law also gives the City Commission the right to add a surcharge to the hourly rate charged for detail protection, to cover the use of cruisers and other taxpayer-funded equipment.

Witt said he would provide information on possible surcharge costs next month, and the commission must decide if it wishes to enact them.