[Adopted 9-25-2006 by Ord. No. 06-16]
The intention of this article is to permit members of the Dunellen Borough Police Department, during their off-duty hours, to engage in certain extra-duty police-related activities for private persons or entities under specified circumstances and establish policy regarding the use of said officers.
The Chief of Police of the Borough of Dunellen is hereby authorized to permit members of the Borough Police Department, during their off-duty hours, to engage in extra-duty police-related activities for private reasons or entities under the provisions of this article. Any and all extra-duty assignments must be determined and approved by the Chief of Police prior to the commencement of such employment. The Chief of Police shall obtain such information as he deems necessary in order to make his determination as to whether to permit the requested assignment. The Chief of Police may assign a patrol vehicle for use in performing the requested assignment if the Chief of Police determines that such patrol vehicle is necessary in order to properly perform the contracted duty. The Chief of Police may deny assignment or use of police officer(s) or vehicles and/or impose any condition(s) or requirements as he, in his sole discretion, may deem to be in the best interests of the Borough and/or the police officer(s) or public safety. The Chief of Police shall be guided by the nature of the assignment and should avoid those with conflicts of interest and/or high risk of injury.
A. 
The work to be performed shall be considered as a "Special Assignment from Independent Contractors" and will not be considered as a direct assignment. Officers engaged in such assignments shall conform to all police department rules, regulations, and procedures. After approval of the activity by the Chief of Police, the assignment of the necessary extra duty police officer(s) shall be made on a voluntary basis in accordance with a fair and reasonable system established and administered by the Chief of Police. Any law enforcement officers, when so employed by the Borough, shall be treated as an employee of the Borough; provided, however, that wages earned for outside employment shall not be applied toward pension benefits of law enforcement officers so employed, nor shall hours worked for outside employment be considered in any way compensable as overtime.
B. 
All requests for the services of off-duty law enforcement officers in the Borough of Dunellen Police Department for a period of one week or longer shall be forwarded to the Chief of Police for posting at least 10 days before such services are required.
C. 
All special duty assignments shall be within Dunellen Borough unless specific written approval is given by the Chief to the officer to work outside of the Borough. The Chief may contact adjoining municipal police departments to see if their officers are willing to perform such special assignments within Dunellen, before allowing Dunellen officers to perform assignments outside of Dunellen. This does not apply to assignments crossing municipal boundaries in which the work is partially performed in the Borough of Dunellen.
D. 
Private parties or attorneys who utilize police officers in civil cases by request or subpoena will be responsible to reimburse the Borough for the costs incurred for the officers' time while complying with the subpoena. The time incurred will be billed by the Borough to the requesting private attorney or party at the rate established for special duty assignments. Officers will continue to be compensated by the Borough as per past practice and the Collective Bargaining agreement for time responding to subpoena. This section may not apply to internal administrative or disciplinary matters in which reimbursement to the Borough may not be applicable.
A. 
Any person or entity requesting the services of an off-duty law enforcement officer of the Dunellen Police Department shall estimate the number of hours such law enforcement services are required, which estimate shall be approved in writing by the Chief of Police, and shall establish an escrow account with the Borough Finance Officer by depositing an amount sufficient to cover the rates of compensation and administrative fees set forth in this section, for the total estimated hours of service.
B. 
If the amount required to be deposited with the Borough exceeds $10,000, an escrow deposit of $10,000 shall be required. Said $10,000 deposit shall be maintained until such time as the amount required to be deposited for all remaining services on any given project shall be less that $10,000, and then such lesser amount shall be required to be maintained.
C. 
Prior to posting any request for services of off-duty law enforcement officers, the Chief of Police, or his designee, shall verify that the balance in the escrow account of the person or entity requesting services is sufficient to cover the compensation and fees for the number of hours specified in the request for services. The Chief of Police shall not post a request for services from any person or entity unless all fees and compensation required in the manner described above have been deposited with the Borough Finance Officer. No officer shall provide any such services for more hours than are specified in the request for services.
D. 
In the event the funds in such an escrow account should become depleted, services of off-duty law enforcement officers shall cease and requests for further or future services shall not be performed or posted until additional funds have been deposited in the escrow account in the manner described above.
E. 
The person or entity requesting such services shall be responsible for ensuring that sufficient funds remain in the escrow account in order to avoid any interruption of services.
F. 
Houses of worship and local public schools shall be exempt from the requirements for the posting of an escrow account.
[Amended 8-4-2008 by Ord. No. 08-13; 3-19-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-07; 9-16-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-10]
A. 
Rates of compensation for contracting the services of off-duty law enforcement officers for Dunellen Borough Municipal Projects and Dunellen School District projects shall be $60 per hour and an additional fee of $8 per hour is hereby established to cover administrative costs, overhead, and out-of-pocket expenses of the Borough of Dunellen. Therefore, the total hourly rate of compensation shall be $68.
B. 
Rates of compensation for contracting the services of off-duty law enforcement officers for all other projects other than those by the Borough of Dunellen or the Dunellen School District shall be $77 per hour and an additional fee of $8 per hour is hereby established to cover administrative costs, overhead, and out-of-pocket expenses of the Borough of Dunellen. Therefore, the total hourly rate of compensation shall be $85.
C. 
Any assignment cancelled by a private party on less than four hours' notice shall be charged against the party for the minimum hours for the assignment. The minimum hours for any assignment is set at four hours.
D. 
If the use of a police vehicle(s) is requested and approved by the Chief of Police, then an additional charge of $15 per hour per vehicle will be charged.
E. 
In the event police officers from other municipalities perform special duty assignments within the Borough due to the non-availability of local officers for such duties, it shall be the responsibility of those officers from other municipalities to arrange payment for services direct from the utilizing party or through their police department.
The Borough 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, personal injury including death or damage to property which may arise as a result of the Borough's performance under the agreement.
The Chief or designee has the authority to order any police officer to vacate or terminate any special duty assignment in response to emergent 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 or designee. The contractor shall not be responsible for any compensation for the time the police officer is away from the special duty assignment, and shall have no claim for any costs or damages against the Borough, the Chief, or any police officer arising from the termination of any special duty assignment other than the prorated return of any fee prepaid to the Borough for the time.