TexasCHLforum.com

magicglock wrote:Too bad a few fools that drew the short straw at the station and got stuck on Fair duty have to make the rest of the LEO community look so bad.

The LEOs working at the Fair are doing so either off-duty or as overtime/special event rates and might be being paid by the Fair directly. If not, the Fair is paying x amount to the department. The local department sets their policies on which officers are eligible to work off-duty jobs and what the minimum pay for these jobs will be. It's often a minimum of $40+/hour.

LEOs can work all kinds of events as off-duty or overtime (where they can get a full 1.5x pay rate, build up comp time, or use it a couple of other ways).

- Some work as "apartment security" in exchange for free apartments (or greatly reduced)
- Banks
- Car dealerships (especially at night)
- Sporting events (Cowboys, Rangers, Byron Nelson, high school games, college games, Mavs, etc.)
- Whatever else

They can significantly subsidize their salaries (which - in some cities - are pretty competitive to begin with) depending on how many days they're willing to work. Some departments limit the number of hours of off-duty its officers can work in a given week so that it won't effect their performance.

Anyway - it's definitely not a short straw or a negative duty. . . it's a thing they sign up for in advance and seniority rules to determine who gets the spots.

Would it do any good to ask the LEO to contact his supervisor? He's probably being paid off-duty by the fair, but it's a big enough event that I bet some middle-management layers are on site. The top brass is probably anti-CHL, but the layers above the rank-and-file are likely alright with it. If you have the laws printed out and on hand. . . maybe he can see that they can't deny you access due to the fact that it is owned by the city - regardless of who leases it.

A longshot. . .