[Adopted 6-1-1993 by Ord. No. 918-93;
amended in its entirety 6-5-2001 by Ord. No. 1171-01 (Ch. 67, Art. II,
of the 1993 Code)]
[Amended 6-3-2019 by Ord.
No. 1645-19; 2-7-2023 by Ord. No. 1698-23]
Any and all special duty assignments for police personnel shall
be determined and approved by the Chief of Police or his designee.
No police officer shall perform special duty assignments for private
parties or non-law enforcement entities for compensation other than
through the procedure set forth in this article. The Chief of Police
or his designee shall obtain such information as he determines necessary
and is authorized to approve such special duty police work in accordance
with this article. The Chief of Police or his designee may assign
a police vehicle for use in performing special duty if and in the
event it is determined that the use of a police vehicle is necessary
to perform the contracted duty. The Chief of Police or his designee
may deny the assignment or use of police officers or vehicles and/or
may impose any condition or requirement as in his sole discretion
and determination is in the best interest of the Township and/or police
officers or public safety. The Chief of Police or his designee shall
be guided by the nature of the assignment and may refuse to approve
those with conflict of interest and/or significant risk of injury.
The Chief of Police or his designee may assign a police vehicle or
appropriate equipment for use in performing special duty and in the
event it is determined that the use of a police vehicle is necessary
to perform the contracted duty. This ordinance does not apply to assignments
or work performed for or at the direction of any Special Task Force
or similar assignments by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office
or other law enforcement agencies, except that payments to the officer(s)
performing such assignments may be made by such law enforcement agencies
through the Township Special Duty Police Fund subject to the approval
of the Municipal Finance Officer.
The work to be performed shall be considered
special assignment from independent contractors and will not be considered
a direct assignment. The taking of any and all special-duty assignments
shall be on a voluntary basis in accordance with a fair and reasonable
system established and administered by the Chief of Police or his
designee.
[Amended 6-3-2019 by Ord.
No. 1645-19; 2-7-2023 by Ord. No. 1698-23]
Officers engaged in special duty assignments shall be deemed
on duty of all purposes, including but not limited to worker's
compensation, public liability and third-party claims for damages
and shall conform to all police department rules, regulations and
procedures. All such agreements for special duty assignments shall
be contracted for in writing by the completion of a form available
from the Police Department, which contracts shall be kept on record
as other such public documents. The hourly rate shall be set by the
Township Committee. Delinquent parties shall be liable for all costs,
fees and attorney's fees associated with the collection of any
amounts due. Private parties or attorneys who utilize police officers
in civil cases by subpoena will be responsible to reimburse the Township
for the costs incurred for the officer's time while complying
with the subpoena. The time incurred will be billed by the Township
to the requesting private attorney or party. This section does not
apply to internal administrative or disciplinary matters in which
reimbursement to the Township is not applicable.
All special-duty assignments shall be within
the municipality, unless specific written approval is given by the
Township Committee and/or the Municipal Administrator to the officer
to work outside of the municipality. The Chief of Police or his designee
may contact adjoining municipal Police Departments to see if they
are willing to perform such special assignments. This does not apply
to assignments crossing municipal boundaries in which the work is
partially performed within the municipality.
A.
All payments for special duty assignments shall be deposited in and
be made through a special police fund established by the Municipal
CFO from which payments shall be made to the individual police officers
performing such service. All payments from the trust fund shall be
made to the police officers in a timely manner as provided by law,
subject to required deductions and an administrative fee of $30 per
hour to be retained by the municipality. Any dispute between the contractor
and the police officer on assignment as to services required or compensation
due shall be determined by the Chief of Police or his designee. The
Chief of Police's decision or that of his designee shall be final
and binding.
[Amended 6-3-2019 by Ord.
No. 1645-19; 2-7-2023 by Ord. No. 1698-23]
B.
All requests
by private and/or non-law enforcement parties for special-duty services
shall be made in writing at least two business days before the services
are to commence, except in the event of exigent circumstances. This
time period may be waived by the Chief of Police or his designee.
Upon filing the request, the requesting party shall deposit with the
Township or have on deposit, in the Special Duty Police fund at least
sufficient funds to pay for the services requested, including all
administrative charges. The amount required to be deposited shall
be subject to the determination and approval of the Chief of Police
or his designee and must at all times be sufficient to pay for special-duty
services before said services are rendered and no services shall be
rendered unless prepaid.
C.
Parties that utilize special-duty services on a regular
basis for a week or longer shall maintain a minimum balance of the
average weekly expenditure in the fund. Parties that utilize special-duty
services on a regular or frequent basis shall maintain a minimum deposit
of $500 in the Fund. The Chief of Police or his designee shall have
the authority to determine the appropriate minimum balance for a particular
party utilizing services to ensure adequate funds are on deposit to
timely pay the officers and administrative fees for services provided.
D.
No services shall be rendered for any party that does
not have funds on deposit sufficient to cover the services. No services
shall be rendered to any party that is delinquent on payment for past
services rendered. Delinquent parties shall be liable for interest
at 18% per annum on any funds noticed to the party as delinquent,
together with any damages or attorney's fees or costs incurred by
reason of their delinquency.
E.
Rates.
[Amended 2-3-2009 by Ord. No. 1453-09; 6-3-2019 by Ord. No. 1645-19; 2-7-2023 by Ord. No. 1698-23]
(1)
The hourly rate/charge payable to police officers for construction
assignments, security assignments, bank security assignments, Hazlet
Township youth groups and nonprofit organizations, exclusive of school
assignments, shall be as follows with a four-hour minimum:
(2)
In addition to the hourly rate listed above a fee of $30 per hour
shall be retained by the municipality. The Chief of Police or his
designee may waive the minimum hours on a particular assignment, after
consultation with the officers involved in the assignment, should
he determine this is in the interests of the Township. In continuing
assignments, the Chief of Police or his designee may waive the hourly
minimum on a continuing basis. The Chief of Police or his designee
may waive the administrative fee for assignments for municipalities
or governmental agencies when appropriate in his discretion for regional
events or mutual-aid type situations.
F.
Administration.
[Amended 1-25-2005 by Ord. No. 1318-05; 12-19-2017 by Ord. No. 1615-17]
(1)
The Township may choose to utilize a secondary service to administrate
and perform the above actions related to the special duty employment
process. These actions include but are not limited to communicating
with said person or company to schedule special duty jobs, scheduling
the officers for the said jobs, invoicing the person or company and
receiving escrow and/or payments from the person or company in a manner
set forth by the secondary service provider. The secondary service
provider may charge an addition fee for services that is above and
in addition to the fee structure stated above and utilize business-type
collection rules as set forth in the contract between the Township
and the secondary service provider.
[Amended 6-3-2019 by Ord.
No. 1645-19; 2-7-2023 by Ord. No. 1698-23]
(2)
The
secondary service provider will reimburse the Township via ACH, or
other funds transfer methods due to the Township and officer, in a
timely manner, usually coinciding with payroll periods for jobs that
the officers have performed or were scheduled for in that period,
in accordance with the above-listed rules of employment between the
Township and person(s) or company seeking services.
[Amended 11-17-2014 by Ord. No. 1558-14]
Any assignment which is canceled on less than
two hours' notice shall be charged against the party. Upon cancellation,
the contractor shall be responsible for the minimum payment of four
hours, per officer assigned, at the specified rate.
The Chief of Police or his designee has the
authority to order any police officer to vacate or terminate any special-duty
assignment in response to emergency situations or whenever the assignment
creates an unacceptable risk to health, safety and welfare of the
police officer and/or public in the sole determination and discretion
of the Chief of Police or his designee. The contractor shall not be
responsible for any compensation for the time that the police officer
is away from the special-duty assignments and shall have no claim
for any costs or damages against the municipality, the Chief of Police
or his designee or any police officer arising from the termination
of any special-duty assignment other than the prorated return of any
fees prepaid to the Township or the municipality for the time.
The municipality shall be responsible to provide
all necessary insurance coverage as required by law, including but
not limited to workers' compensation, public liability and claims
for damage for personal injury, including death or damage to property
which may arise as a result from the municipality's performance under
the contract.
All special-duty assignments and related work
shall be performed in accordance with the agreement for special-duty
assignments of police officers entered into between the contractor
and the municipality.
