Minneapolis City Council OKs ordinance allowing city to charge fees when cops do side gigs

The Minneapolis City Council approved an ordinance Thursday allowing the city to charge fees to private businesses when police officers do off-duty security work for them.

It’s the first step toward recouping some of the costs to taxpayers for allowing the officers to use squad cars, uniforms and weapons and other city supplies. The officers are also covered by the city’s liability insurance while doing off-duty work.

Last year, the council voted to study what fees could be imposed. That report is due in May, after which the council could add new fees and begin charging them in 2026.

The Police Department allows officers to provide security for private businesses, such as bars, clubs, sports teams and construction companies. These side gigs can pay up to hundreds of dollars per hour, often in cash, according to a 2019 city audit.

Council Member Robin Wonsley, a chief proponent of reining in what she called an “inequitable and fiscally appalling” off-duty program, said one estimate showed such fees could have recouped up to $1.4 million in 2024.

Off-duty work came under scrutiny in 2017 when then-officer Mohamed Noor worked seven hours moonlighting as a security guard before beginning a 10-hour police shift on the night he shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who had called police to report a possible assault in her alley.

The issue came into public focus again in 2020, when a Latino nightclub owner said former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, worked security at the club where Floyd had worked as a bouncer. Later that year, the City Council stopped requiring off-duty officers at city-licensed events.

Council Member Katie Cashman asked what rates officers charge. She said she had heard from businesses that the fees have gone up “astronomically” in the past year, to the point of being cost-prohibitive, and they’re not sure why.

Council Member Michael Rainville, who represents downtown, also worried that the rates would get so high that people can’t afford to hold events.

Wonsley said that’s part of the problem: The rates aren’t standard.

Assistant City Attorney Amy Schutt said in 2020, the council stopped requiring off-duty officers at licensed events and let them hire private security instead.

Council Member Andrea Jenkins said that’s not clear to the general public, and Schutt agreed that has been a source of “confusion and misinformation.”

“I think this off-duty system is completely out of control,” Jenkins said.

The U.S. Department of Justice said the Police Department’s off-duty work system was poorly managed and undermined supervision in its 2023 report on the department’s discriminatory policing practices.

Police Chief Brian O’Hara has said the off-duty system is rife with potential for corruption and has said he’s started tracking off-duty work.

Council President Elliott Payne said officers are limited to working no more than 160 hours per pay period. But he questioned how they can be working extra jobs when the department has a “staffing crisis.” Both can’t be true, he said.

The council voted 12-0 for the ordinance; Jenkins was absent during the vote.