CEO 78-29 -- May 18, 1978

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICER EMPLOYED DURING OFF-DUTY HOURS AS SECURITY DIRECTOR OF CORPORATION LOCATED WITHIN MUNICIPALITY

To: Henry J. Hearns, Chief of Police, Virginia Gardens

Prepared by: Phil Claypool

SUMMARY:

Section 112.313(7)(a), F. S. 1977, prohibits a public officer or employee from holding any private employment or contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with or is regulated by the officer's or employee's public agency, and further prohibits private employment or contractual relationships which create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict with or impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. When a municipal police officer is employed during his off-duty hours as security director of a corporation located within the municipality, no violation of the above provision is created if the corporation neither does business with nor is regulated by the police department, the officer's agency, and if the private employment takes place during the officer's off-duty hours so as not to interfere with the discharge of his public duties.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where a municipal police officer is employed during his off-duty hours as the security director of a corporation which is located within the municipality but does not do business with the police department and is not regulated by the police department?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are the Chief of Police of Virginia Gardens and that Mr. Robert W. Weiss, a police officer of that city, is employed during his off-duty hours as the security director for a corporation which is located in the municipality. In a telephone conversation with our staff, you also advised that the corporation, which publishes Spanish editions of American magazines, does not do business with the municipality; nor is it regulated by the police department. You have advised that because he is an employee of a private corporation, Mr. Weiss is not licensed under Ch. 493, F. S., as a security guard. In addition, you advise that in the event criminal activity is suspected at the corporation, he has been instructed to call the police rather than to act in his capacity as a police officer in his off-duty hours.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides in relevant part:

CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP. -- No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he is an officer or employee . . . ; nor shall an officer or employee of an agency have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. [Section 112.313(7)(a), F. S. 1977.]

Inasmuch as the subject corporation neither does business with the municipality nor is subject to the regulation of the police department, the first clause of the above-quoted provision is not applicable. See, generally, CEO's 76-101, 77-79, and 78-10. In addition, we do not perceive that the subject officer's employment with the corporation would create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict with or impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties, so long as his private employment takes place during his off-duty hours. We are of the opinion that this would be true regardless of whether the corporation is located within the municipality which he serves.

Accordingly, we find that the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees does not prohibit a municipal police officer from being employed during his off-duty hours as a security director of a corporation which is located within the municipality but does not do business with the police department and is not regulated by the police department.