A Seattle police officer was “hanging around” a strip club in North Seattle during an undercover operation related to alleged prostitution activities, according to The Seattle Times .

The officer has been placed on paid leave amid an investigation into his involvement, the Times reports.
The story left KIRO Radio’s John Curley with a question:

“If you were an off-duty police officer, sitting there paying $15 for a Diet Coke and the ladies are shaking their money [maker] in front of you and you happen to see illegal activity going on, and you don’t do anything about, are you somehow held responsible?”

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So we asked the police: Does an off-duty officer have any responsibility to act if he or she sees an illegal activity?

“Responsible? Probably not, and it depends on the crime,” said Seattle Police Det. Patrick Michaud.

Michaud said that, in general, an off-duty officer who sees a crime has discretion over whether or not to act.

“Because we’re not wearing body armor, and a lot of us don’t wear guns and badges when we’re off-duty, we’d be putting ourselves into a sticky situation where we might find ourselves hurt,” he said.

Michaud believes the law protects off-duty officers on low-level, non-felony crimes. The responsibility might change a bit for high-level crimes, he says.

According to the SPD police manual, employees “are authorized and expected to use discretion in a reasonable manner consistent with the mission of the Department and duties of their office and assignment. The scope of discretion is proportional to the severity of the crime or public safety issue being addressed.”

Michaud says that, generally, being a good witness and calling 911 is plenty.

“Making sure people wearing all the tools of the trade are there is probably the best way to handle something like that,” he said. “And if they don’t and it’s something where someone gets hurt I could see that being something that could be an issue. But liability-wise I think the law kind of protects you from that.”

Although the officer doesn’t need to act, Michaud believes the officer is bound by policy to report illegal activity. At least the major stuff.

“If I see someone jaywalking, hopefully they make it,” Michaud said. “And if they get hurt I will try to render aid. You have to weigh the risk versus the benefit.”

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