185 North Yorkshire Police officers do second jobs

New figures have revealed that 185 officers across the county do an additional paid job – more than a tenth of the force’s 1,486 officers – with the permission of chief constable Grahame Maxwell.

The diverse roles also include training gun dogs for hire and lecturing, as well as more mundane labouring or manual jobs, such as building, plastering, joinery or plumbing.

Many other officers also do voluntary or charity work, such as foster caring, volunteering for lifeboat and mountain rescue work, and working as Girl Guide or Scout leaders.

Mark Botham, chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Federation, said police officers were a reflection of society, and the economic pressures on them were the same as for anyone else.

He believed in the current economic climate there was the potential for the number of officers with second jobs to grow. Mr Botham had concerns about the need for officers to get rest and recuperation, but said they had to be able to satisfy the force their second jobs would not prevent them getting rest before permission was granted.

Steve Read, the force’s head of professional standards, said it operated a “business interests procedure” which required officers wanting any form of business interest outside their force employment to apply to the chief constable through a “strict and thorough” application process.

“The chief constable has the discretion to either grant or refuse permission to hold a business interest,” he said. “If there is any indication that the proposed business interest may conflict with officers’ police duties, then it is likely that permission will be refused.

“Second jobs will be treated as business interests, therefore any proposal to do a second job would be subject to the business interests procedure.”

A force spokesman added voluntary or charity work was not classed as a second job and was something the force would encourage, as long as it did not infringe on their police duties.