Statute 30.51: Off-duty Details in the State of Florida
As a SaaS company, PowerDetails has the privilege of working with law enforcement agencies from all across the country.
Our software solutions are designed to help agencies manage every aspect of their off-duty detail and overtime process from scheduling jobs, to processing payments, and everything in between.
When getting to know a new agency, it is critical that we have a firm understanding of their current system and how they do things. Every agency is different, and part of our job is taking time to understand what specific rules and regulations each individual agency needs to enforce. Despite state-mandated policies that dictate how off-duty jobs should be processed, many agencies have developed their own home-grown systems over time that often fail to enforce those rules effectively.
For the state of Florida, one of those policies is Statute 30.51: Fees and Commissions.*
The statute effectively states that law enforcement agencies are required to collect payment from employers/vendors prior to working an off-duty job.* This serves to protect Florida’s taxpayers from essentially fronting the cost of a business’ private security needs and allows the agency to track and account for payments more accurately.
Statute 30.51 has been in effect since 2012 and, since then, the use of cash payments directly between the employer and the working officer has continued to be commonplace. Whether it’s a matter of agencies not wanting to be involved with the off-duty jobs that their personnel work or a matter of convenience for the agencies who don’t receive off-duty jobs often, cash payments make details difficult to track and manage.
Common issues include:
Inaccurate reporting of hours — resulting in an elevated risk of officer fatigue
Uncollected fees for the agency — due to overpayment of the officer
Lack of accountability — cash leaves no paper trail and can encourage misconduct
In an effort to minimize cash transactions and help enforce Florida statute 30.51, PowerDetails is excited to announce that our platform now offers an estimates tool that allows agencies to collect payments before an off-duty job even starts!
PowerDetails users can now generate an estimate for employers and collect payment electronically prior to the start of a job. Once an estimate or invoice is sent, employers can pay online via credit/debit card or through secured ACH payments and these payments will be deposited directly into your agency’s bank account to make sure you and your officers get paid promptly.
In the event that an officer works more/less hours than originally estimated, PowerDetails also has an automatic reconciliation feature that generates a corrected invoice for the difference between the scheduled amount and the actual amount.
If your agency is currently using cash payments (especially in the state of Florida), contact us at team@powerdetails.com.
Watch a Demo at your convenience or request a personalized web-demonstration with one of our PowerDetails experts.
*30.51 Fees and commissions.
(1) No bills shall be rendered to the county for any services, nor shall any fees, commissions, or other remuneration for official services as sheriff be paid by the board of county commissioners of any county to the sheriff of the county except as provided by this section. All fees, commissions and other remuneration provided by law for services other than criminal shall be charged by the said sheriff to other authorities and parties doing business with their offices, and shall be paid over to the county as provided in this section.
(2) The fees authorized, or a deposit sufficient to cover them, shall be collected in advance from the party who requests the service; provided, that services may be performed for any governmental agency or unit without advance payment, and the officer shall bill and collect the fees earned from such agency after the service is performed or when the amount due is determined.
(3) Deposits for fees shall be placed in a depository trust account. The officer who receives the deposit shall keep an account with the depositor, and shall withdraw monthly from the deposits the fees earned and shall remit them to the county fund or funds as provided by this section.
(4) Fees or commissions commingled when received with other official collections may be deposited with such other collections in the trust account or accounts and distributed to the county fund or funds at the time that the other collections, with which they were received, are distributed.
(5) All fees, commissions, or other funds collected by the sheriff for services rendered or performed by his or her office shall be remitted monthly to the county.
(6) No sheriff shall render to another county a bill for service of process in any criminal matter.
History.—s. 5, ch. 57-368; s. 1, ch. 59-365; s. 8, ch. 69-82; s. 190, ch. 95-147; s. 26, ch. 2001-266.
Are you ready to streamline your Extra-Duty Details?
