Out-of-uniform, off-duty officers may confront criminal activity to which they should take, or must decide whether to take, enforcement action. When engaged in off-duty enforcement of this type, non-uniformed officers risk being mistaken as criminal suspects by responding officers. The included protocols are intended to define when off-duty, non-uniformed enforcement action is authorized and how it should be conducted in order to reduce the potential of officer-on-officer shootings and related injuries. These documents are also intended to limit unnecessary enforcement action by off-duty officers.

These documents provide guidelines to police officers regarding acceptable criteria for making an off-duty arrest and appropriate behavior for ensuring safety during off-duty enforcement actions.

This topic is under review by the IACP Policy Center. For more information, please email the Policy Center.