Residency requirements

[sscpd223]

Hello to all,
I have a question to pose to other officers around the nation. The members of my department and the city leaders have been having a debate over residency. The city council is trying to impose a residency requirement to where officers must reside in the school district of our particular city. It has always been posed as an "un-written rule" as stated by our city administrator that this is always been the case. We had several officers attend a finance comittee meeting where we believe this was trying to be "backdoored" and we caught them by suprise by attending and making comments about it. We were told by the chief and city administrator that when you sign your conditional offer of employment that the residency clause is in there. Many of us at this time do not remember ever signing such a thing. We are looking into our files w/ personnel and I will get back to you on it. Then on another day it changes and they state it is the rules and regs of the Civil Service. After reading the civil service rules and regs. we find it is not in there. Then on another day it comes back to the fact that during your interview w/ civil service they ask if you are to be hired that you must maintain residency in the school district. If you say no then you are off the list. Don't remember that one either however, it may be asked verbally not in writing anywhere. SO, what we have is un-written policies, long-standing practices and a lot of changing of where the policy is depending on the day of the week. I think what is going on is that someone up a t city hall has gotten wind that some of us are looking to move out of the city and even across state lines. I live and work in Nebraska where the only law enforcement that is required by law is state troopers and the elected county sheriff must reside in his/her county. Other city police and county deputies throughout the Missouri River corridor can and do live in IA. It was also mentioned at one city council meeting that the reason to do it is for tax reasons. Our union retained attorney believes this would not fly. Any truth to that? Anyone have a say or particular court case which would benefit us trying to have an open residency policy? Ther is more to this but I have rambled on enough to probably bore most of you to tears. It is just that this is burning my butt right now!! If it was clearly in policy or the civil service regs. or we signed it a contract that would be one thing. But, to have the answer or reason change everyday just ticks me and other dept. members off!!! I guess that comes from being a cop. "Is it there in black and white" "Nope" "Didn't happen" "10-8"!! Thanks for everything and I look foward to hearing from all of you. Stay safe.

[sscpd223]

I know. I was just fuming and kept typing w/o an obvious break in my writing. I do apologize.

[Iowa #1603]

an FYI

The following is an exerpt from an Administrative Policy of the City of Dubuque Iowa
I know the provision was litigated by a city roads employee (snow removal operator----------Dubuque has some SERIOUS hills) and the city won the suit.I can not find the cite right now.


Every non-civil service employee, police officer, firefighter and other critical civil service municipal employee
shall be a resident of the State of Iowa and shall have and shall maintain such person’s principal place of
residence either within the corporate limits of the City of Dubuque or within 6.5 miles of the corporate limits
of the City of Dubuque by the most direct street, road, or highway, within six (6) months of the date of hire or
appointment.
Thirteen (13) percent of the staff hours established to operate the emergency communications center may be filled by
employees who have their principal place of residence within Dubuque County.


Failure to comply with the provisions of this AP will be grounds for termination.

[Nobody]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/07/...ion/index.html

[SgtCHP]

CHP officers for the most part must live within a one hour commute, under normal circumstances and traffic, from the office to which they are assigned.

The Department does have some Resident Posts along the Arizona, Nevada and Oregon borders where officers are permitted to live within those states because of housing availability. In those cases, the officers are required to abide by the tax codes of both states - where they work and where they live. It is really not an issue as there are only a few who are so involved.

Most agencies restrict where their officers live and most are generous in their requirements. However, in your case, you should check with the Nebraska Attorney General and attempt to obtain a decision from that office to finalize requirements.

[JayhawkFan]

The agency where I am a reserve deputy requires all deputies to live within the county within the first 2 years of employment.

In Kansas City, there is a residency requirement for living inside the city limits within 1 year of being hired.

[luckydog]

My agency requires us to live in our jurisdiction, take home vehicle or not.

[LA DEP]

No residency requirements here (I have always been told that they are illegal in CA, but cannot confirm that one)......you can live in Las Vegas if you want too....the department could care less where you live as long as you are at work and on time.

I have never lived closer than 20 miles to my duty assignment.

[L-1]

I suspect there may be a legitimate legal issue with you living on the Iowa side. Most states require you to obtain a drivers license for your state of residence. However, states that you work in usually require you to have a drivers license from that state. There might be a drivers license conflict if you were to live in Iowa and work in Nebraska.

CHP maintains Area Offices and resident posts in remote areas along the state line where there is no housing, forcing officers to live in adjoining states. California had to pass a special law allowing CHP officers assigned to those locations to work in California while using out of state drivers licenses.

[Iowa #1603]

I suspect there may be a legitimate legal issue with you living on the Iowa side. Most states require you to obtain a drivers license for your state of residence. However, states that you work in usually require you to have a drivers license from that state. There might be a drivers license conflict if you were to live in Iowa and work in Nebraska.

CHP maintains Area Offices and resident posts in remote areas along the state line where there is no housing, forcing officers to live in adjoining states. California had to pass a special law allowing CHP officers assigned to those locations to work in California while using out of state drivers licenses.

Actually there isn't much of a problem. Iowa law is pretty flexible on this matter
There are 4 major (for Iowa) population centers in Iowa that border another state
Council Bluffs------Omaha
Sioux City========S.Sioux City Ne.
Dubuque-----------E. Dubuque , IL
Davenport----------Rock Island IL
With the exception I noted above, there is no residency problem.

As a side note, each of those areas also are in different area codes for telephones............and they can each call the other side of the river without toll charges on regular land lines.

The DOC has a lot of staff living in Illinois and working at our Ft Madison facility. We only require an Iowa DL if they live in Iowa---an Ill DL is acceptable.............they just need a valid DL.

[sscpd223]

There are no legal issues w/ living out of state and having an out of state DL. Omaha, DOuglas Co., Bellevue, Blair, and others have had officers living in IA and working in NE for some time now. I know there are others but I can't think of them now.

[mikeymedic]

We have to live within 10 minutes of the city limits.

[blackhorse]

What I find is that in most Sheriff's departments, you not only have to live in the Parish you serve in, you must actually have a voter's registration card. Since the Sheriff is an elected official, and he's your boss, he basically is saying if you don't, or can't vote for me, I don't want you.

However, even PD's in this state have a residency requirement, but they use it when it benefits them. NOPD has a residency requirement, but since Hurricane Katrina, they've pretty much ignored it. I suspect if the agency is experiencing difficulty getting good candidates within their jurisdiction, they'll "waive" the residency requirement until such time as they don't need to any longer. I know for a fact that NOPD uses it to their advantage. I know some good cops who've been terminated because they don't live in the city, even though they were not required to at the time of their hire.

Good luck fighting city hall. Sounds like they are going through a power struggle and the guy on the road is the one who ends up getting it in the rear.

[stormz5192]

To be a P/O in NJ, you MUST be a resident of the the State. Any civil service department requires that you are a resident at the time of the test and hire. Some NJ towns, as well as Philadelphia, require that you be a resident.

[Monkeybomb]

We don't have a requirment to live within our own jurisdiction but if you don't you can't take your car home. I would imagine that you have to be a resident of this state though.