Off-duty job rules tighten for cops

Businesses say officers' presence deters crime

Most Triangle cops don't hang up their guns and badges when they punch out. But now a few of them are suspected of breaking the law while working off the clock.

Lack of oversight at the Raleigh Police Department and Durham County Sheriff's Office has led to allegations of misconduct against off-duty officers.

Six Raleigh officers are under investigation for criminal activity. Department officials won't specify the suspected offenses, but the head of a labor organization for city officers says the probe likely focuses on officers working off-duty jobs during city work shifts. More than 100 other officers are being disciplined for violations of off-duty policy that didn't rise to criminal levels.

Three Durham County deputies were fired last week. One, Michael Owens, allegedly trafficked in cocaine during off hours at a bar he never told his superiors he owned. Two colleagues got the ax for entering Owens' La Zona Sports Bar & Billiards while working off-duty, a violation of sheriff's office policy made worse by investigators saying that drugs were sold and used inside the Roxboro Road nightspot.

One of those deputies never told his supervisors that he was working at La Zona, records show.

Raleigh has announced measures aimed at improving oversight. Durham County Sheriff Worth Hill said he is leaning toward prohibiting any deputy from working off-duty at a bar, a decision that could come this week.

Some deputies and business owners say such a sweeping move would be a shame. They point out the upside of uniformed officers standing guard by places ripe for crime, their mere presence serving as a deterrent.

Dangerous "clientele might shift right back once they find out we've left," said Lt. Rickey Padgett of the Durham Sheriff's Office, who has worked off-duty for the El Toro bar since 1992. "Then what you've got is a return to the past. You'll have more emergency calls, 911 calls, other issues."

Officers readily admit that it is not altruism that motivates them to work off-duty. They say they need the $25 an hour or more on the side to supplement salaries that hover around $30,000 to $40,000.

But Triangle law enforcement supervisors need look no further than the news of the Raleigh audit Friday or recent Durham arrest reports to see the drawbacks of off-duty work.

A double standard?

The International Association of Chiefs of Police, which has more than 17,000 members and advises police management on the best operating practices, is wary of off-duty jobs. It recommends that police agencies regulate off-duty work, especially in industries that cater to seedier elements.

"A community and department that have an officer arresting drug users and prostitutes by day and serving as a bouncer in a facility that both sells drugs and provides prostitutes at night are operating under a double standard," states an association issue paper published in 1989 and revised in 1996.

Maj. Lucy Zastrow of the Durham Sheriff's Office said it is almost certain that deputies won't be allowed to work at bars. The sheriff will discuss the policy this week with top officers in the department.

"I can't imagine it being any other way," she said. "I'm sure it's going to be amended if it's not totally changed. It's a shame that an incident like this has tainted that avenue for us to make off-duty money."

Raleigh police don't really have the option of ending bar work. City ordinances require most rowdy or crowded nightspots to have security on the site. Many club owners choose to hire uniformed Raleigh officers finished with their city shifts.