Low pay cited as cause of ‘moonlighting’ cops

    A police officer may be called upon to wear many hats during his shift.

   Many of the police officers working in the municipal police departments in Avoyelles Parish also wear two or more uniforms during the month.

    The common term for the practice is “moonlighting.”

   A check of the various municipalities found that many share police officers, with some of their full-time officers working part-time for a sister city and some of their part-timers working full-time in another department. Most, if not all, of the part-time police officers have at least one other full-time or part-time job -- but not all of those are with other police departments.

    Marksville Police Chief Elster Smith said the city has 10 full-time patrol officers and three part-time patrolmen. All are POST-certified.

Only three of the MPD officers also work for another police department.

    Smith said he is not opposed to officers moonlighting “as long as it doesn’t interfere with the performance of their job here.”

   Mansura Police Chief John Johnson said two of his six part-time officers work full-time with other municipal police departments. He said none of the three full-time officers moonlight, “but I don’t have a policy against it.”

   Johnson said he has experienced no problems with the performance of moonlighting officers. He said the schedules for those officers are arranged so that it does not result in them coming in to work a Mansura shift after finishing a long shift at their full-time job.

  Cottonport has three moonlighters. Assistant Chief Justin Chenevert works a few days a month in Moreauville and two part-timers work in other municipal police departments.

   “It doesn’t bother me,” Chenevert said. “I will work in Moreauville when I have days off in Cottonport.”

  He said he finds the additional job beneficial because he is able to become more familiar with other areas of the parish.

  Hessmer Police Chief Kenneth Smith said only one of his part-time officers works at another police department.

  One common cause for “moonlighting” is the need to earn more money to support a family.

  Simmesport Police Chief Brandon Spillman has eight part-time police officers in his department. Five of those also work with other police departments. None of the four full-time officers -- himself, the assistant chief and two patrolmen -- work with other departments.

  “Regarding the practice of ‘moonlighting,’ I personally am neither for or against it,” Spillman said. “Each officer knows his/her limitations and I do discourage working -- whether continuously at one job or split between two -- for any longer that 16 hours without a minimum six to eight-hour break before returning to work, unless extreme circumstances exist. However, at the same time, I will not discourage an officer from seeking some sort of secondary employment due to the limited amount of pay that law enforcement officers receive.”

  With most police departments relying heavily on part-time officers to patrol the streets, the likelihood of a trained police officer cobbling together two or more part-time jobs is almost a certainty.

  The rate of pay for most departments is based on whether the employee has completed Peace Officer Standards Training (POST) at a police academy. This is called “POST-certified.”

   There are several certifications that a police office can obtain without being POST-certified.

   APSO Chief Deputy Steve Martel said the Sheriff’s Office has POST trainers on staff and retrains its deputies annually.

   It offers recertification training to other police departments free-of-charge if they wish to participate in the training program. However, the officers have to obtain their initial POST certification through another academy.