Polk County Sheriff’s Phone# 863-298-6200
If in an emergency Dial 911
Extra-Duty Employment
special operations division
Extra-Duty Deputy Employment
As established by Florida State Statute Title V Chapter 30.2905, deputies are available for private hire during their off-duty hours at the request of citizens, organizations and businesses. Deputies can assist the community by providing security, crowd control, uniformed law-enforcement presence, or traffic control in an off-duty capacity for private functions, social events, store sales events, parades, civic celebrations, job safety, construction, funeral escorts, etc.
PCSO has established the Extra-Duty Employment Coordinator to coordinate these requests Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The coordinator can be reached by calling 863-298-6231 or emailing extradutyemployment@polksheriff.org.
All extra-duty employment provided by PCSO deputies must be within the PCSO jurisdiction, with the exception of special events.
Currently, the PCSO rate for off-duty employment is $30.00 per hour. Larger events requiring an acting Sergeant and/or Lieutenant have a slight increase for their rate of pay. Our agency imposes a four-hour minimum of pay for all details. For example, if your organization only needs a deputy for 1 ½ hours, the deputy would be paid $120.00 and PCSO would be paid $16.00 for a total of $136.00.
PCSO reserves the right to cancel extra-duty employment assignments without notice for the following reasons:
- A representative requests a deputy to engage in prohibited employment activities as described in agency policies and/or Florida Statutes. The Extra-Duty Coordinator shall inform the representative of these prohibited extra-duty employment activities during their conversation (they are also listed here);
- Failure to provide the required notification of cancellation; or
- Failure to pay for services rendered.
- PCSO may also recall employees for official duty when necessary for community safety.
Prohibited Extra-Duty Employment:
- Employment involving the sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages (F.S.S. 561.25). Prohibited employment includes engaging in the sale of alcoholic beverages, or being employed directly or indirectly in connection with the operation of any business licensed under the beverage law. Locations include bars, parking lots of bars, or any other gathering or event where alcoholic beverages are sold or consumed to the degree that the primary purpose of hiring an off-duty deputy is to keep the peace because of the consumption of alcoholic beverages;
- Employment involving bail bond agencies [F.S.S. 648.44(2)];
- Investigative work for attorneys, insurance companies, collection agencies, security agencies, process servers, repossession of vehicles or other property or potential conflicts of interest;
- Employment as private security guards, or private store detectives other than uniformed law enforcement-related employment as defined herein; and
- Any other employment which adversely affects the performance of official duties or which creates violations of ordinances or state statutes or a conflict of interest in violation of F.S.S. 112.313.
Hiring Procedure
- Download Extra-Duty Employment form or call the PCSO Extra-Duty Employment Coordinator for a contract. The contract must be completed & signed. The contract should be returned to the Coordinator at least 48 hours before the event to:
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Attn: PCSO Extra-Duty Employment Unit
1891 Jim Keene Boulevard
Winter Haven, Florida 33880
extradutyemployment@polksheriff.org.If you are in need of a funeral escort, please download Extra-Duty Funeral Escort Form or call the Coordinator for a contract. The contract must be completed & signed. The contract should be returned to the Coordinator at least 48 hours before the event to:
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Attn: PCSO Extra-Duty Employment Unit
1891 Jim Keene Boulevard
Winter Haven, Florida 33880
extradutyemployment@polksheriff.org.You can also fax a copy to 863-298-6420 for requests that require immediate scheduling or email a scanned copy to extradutyemployment@polksheriff.org. Please note that applications submitted less than forty-eight (48) hours in advance may not be filled. The original contract would still need to be mailed in.
- Upon receipt of the contract, the Coordinator will contact you in order to verify the information and obtain specific details, if needed. If you do not hear from a representative of the unit within 24 hours of faxing/emailing or 3 days of mailing the contract, please contact the office.
- Once a deputy has been scheduled for your event, you will be notified. Please use this information to issue a check or money order made payable to the deputy prior to the start of the event. For longer events lasting more than 3 days, your organization will be billed.
Payment Methods
For limited day assignments (less than 3 days and not recurring), payment shall be submitted prior to the event to the Extra-Duty Employment Coordinator during staff office hours. **If prepayment cannot be arranged, payment must be received within 14 days of the invoice date. **
For recurring assignments, your company will be invoiced and payment shall be made within 14 days of the invoicing date. Services will be suspended if payment is not received within 30 days of the invoice date. Invoicing options include traditional mail, fax, or email.
As referenced above, deputies will receive a minimum payment of four hours' worth of pay for any work detail of less than four hours duration.
Administration and vehicle fees shall be paid directly to PCSO via a check or money order. The payment shall be sent to:
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Attn: PCSO Extra-Duty
Employment Coordinator
1891 Jim Keene Boulevard
Winter Haven, Florida
33880
NOTE: Non-compliance with the payment policy, without prior arrangements through the Coordinator, will result in agency-initiated cancellation of the contract. Further extra-duty employment will be suspended pending settlement of the account and/or civil proceedings.
Cancellations
Cancellations must be confirmed at least 24 hours in advance of the scheduled detail during normal business hours. If the detail is cancelled or changed and the Extra-Duty Employment Coordinator does not confirm notification, then the deputies scheduled for that detail must be paid the 4-hour minimum at a standard hourly rate. During normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8 am - 5 pm), call the Coordinator at 863-298-6231.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of the employer to notify the Extra-Duty Employment Coordinator if the business or organization will be closed for a holiday or for any other purpose when off-duty deputies are normally scheduled. If employer fails to notify the Coordinator that deputies are not needed that day, the normal minimum charges for the assignment will apply.