Q: Ace, the other day I was shopping at the Food Lion on the corner of Fifth and Harris and saw a cop, in full cop attire, apparently on the job but nothing doing. If our police department is sending officers to hang out at Food Lion, when my neighborhood could use an extra patrolling officer or two, then these be fighting words! What gives?—Virginia Fiveoh
A: You’ve got a point, Virginia. So let Ace be crystal clear about this: Our tax dollars are not being spent protecting Cheerios. With the rights of citizens everywhere on the mind, Ace put in a call to the manager of the Food Lion in question. Despite Ace’s many charms, Ace was immediately rebuffed when the question of Food Lion’s private copper arose. “We can’t answer any questions on store level,” said the woman on the other end of the phone, before referring Ace to an ever-so-helpful 800 number. Ace left a message at the end of an inevitable chain of recorded messages that—surprise!—was never returned.
Luckily, the Charlottesville Police Department is a bit more user-friendly than corporate America, and Sergeant Michael Farruggio jumped to clarify: There is not just one, but several officers who work at the Food Lion on Fifth and Harris in the evenings. Not only that, but Food Lion isn’t alone in its pursuit of uniformed protection. Friendship Court, Fry’s Spring Beach Club, Wild Wing Café and those naughty Greeks on Rugby Road also have been known to hire an officer or two.
But trust Ace, “officer for hire” is not as Chippendale’s as it sounds. Like oft-sainted public school teachers, police officers are overworked and underpaid, so who can blame them for wanting to make a few extra Benjamins on the side? Thus, the Police Department has arranged it so that businesses wanting extra security can hire off-duty cops for upwards of $30 per hour for, in Farruggio’s words, “the very official presence they provide.” The companies pay for the protection and Farruggio stresses that such supplemental security detail never takes officers off the street.
While it may be otherwise elsewhere, the Charlottesville Police Department requires that all security detail be O.K.’d by the department to ensure that officers are not working so much as to interfere with their fitness for duty. Moreover, because all extra-curricular security detail is arranged through the department, officers are allowed to wear their uniforms on commercial security detail.
In fact, Farruggio believes that hiring out off-duty officers to local businesses is comparable to putting more officers on the street, since, when it comes to honor, officers are on duty 24-7. As Farruggio puts it, “They couldn’t ignore the needs of citizens!” Heavens to Betsy, of course not!