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Police can earn more money with strategic side hustles for extra spending money or thousands of dollars a month that totally replaces their income. Here’s a look at their salary, side hustle ideas, and how to get started.
Side Hustles for Police Officers
A side hustle for police may be a good option to earn more or supplement retirement. Police officers have honed their experience in security, detective work, conflict resolution, and working under pressure. If you’re looking for more than your wages in law enforcement, here are some profitable side gig with ideas for your weekend. Here’s a round-up of police officer side hustles:
1) Security Freelance Writer
Police officers with deep knowledge of the law and security issues can repurpose their skills as a specialized freelance writer. Blogs, B2B magazines, trade publications, newspapers, and consumer magazines are all places to write about security, safety, and other areas of your knowledge base. Your experience in the field makes you a subject matter expert on law enforcement, and you’re also at an advantage when you niche down to an area like security and safety. Unlike other freelance writers tackling any subject, police officers stand-out and are desirable for their expertise.
Publications like American Police Beat Magazine for Law Enforcement is one place to start. However, you can also pitch your own ideas to publications. A piece on how to set up an effective neighborhood watch program is just one idea for a local community newspaper.
Launching a writing side hustle can seem intimidating, but is well within reach. It’s all about packaging your experience as a police officer and using it to market yourself. Many publications don’t even care about writing experience provided you can actually write well and have a good idea with the experience to back it up.
If you’re interested in a freelance writing side hustle, you can get up and running with no experience. The Freelance Writer’s Den helps you get your first client, even if you’re coming into the field with no writing experience. You can also learn to grow and scale your career, whether you want to write for blogs, magazines, newspapers, corporations, and more.
Learn more about freelance writing and The Freelance Writer’s Den here.
2) Police Dog Trainer
If you already work with police dogs in your day job, consider sharing your skills with the public. Your police officer side hustle can help others train their dogs, teach them to address dangerous situations, and learn how to de-escalate situations. Another option is to ask around to local dog training companies to ask if you can teach a class to their already established audience.
You’ll earn more by launching your own police officer side hustle, but working as a contractor or freelancer with another company is also profitable. You don’t need to keep looking for new clients, and instead the company you’re working with brings people to you.
You may not earn quite as much, but you usually have more job security and can get your feet wet learning how to run a successful dog training company. As you learn more about the business, you’ll gain more confidence in launching your own dog training business.
If this side hustle doesn’t work for you in your day-to-day, launching a YouTube video or teaching a class on SkillShare is another way to tap into a large audience and earn income by sharing your trainings online. Believe it or not, it’s actually pretty simple. There are plenty of resources to get started as a YouTube to make thousands each month, provided you set up your channel and present your expertise correctly. One place to start is Income School to learn how to blog or create and market your YouTube videos correctly.
2) Direct Church Traffic
Directing traffic in and out of church buildings could be a lucrative side hustle. The gig is pretty straightforward, you make sure cars are going where they’re supposed to and keep traffic moving. If you live in an area where there are large megachurches, you’ll keep busy with multiple Sunday services, Wednesday services, and special events. But even if you live in a smaller town, you can look for churches with services at different times of day to to keep your side hustle money coming in.
Get in touch directly with the church office and ask about any open gigs. If there’s nothing available, ask if they know of anyone looking. Many of the larger churches have multiple properties in nearby towns and can put you in touch with the right person.
Need a financial boost? Learn how to find free money here.
4) Security Planner
It’s common to find side hustles for police officers focused on security, which can yield mixed results. As a working police officer, you may be discouraged from doing private work in the community, or end up with a low-paying security gig that isn’t work the time. It can be challenging to find the right balance make the side hustle worth your while.
If you do get the go-ahead from your police department to do some work on the side, events and festivals are a good place to start. They need comprehensive security plans from where to post their personnel to hiring the right employees for the job. You can also command higher rates by offering strategy and planning services in your side hustle instead of working as a security guard.
5) Firearms Instructor
This police officer side hustle makes the most of your skills and is in high demand. A shooting instructor helps people learn to safely use a gun. It’s not hard to demonstrate your expertise with your work history under your belt and previous pistol training. Beyond contacting shooting ranges to inquire about a contract or part-time gig, you may find openings for state and city programs requiring specialized, technical tasks or working directly with students in a training capacity. Some job openings may also want the firearms instructor to develop lesson plans and incorporate new and advanced training aids into their programs.
Want to earn even more? Learn how to make $2,000 a month in your spare time.
6) Niche Boot Camp Trainer
You can get paid to workout and show other people how to do it as a niche boot camp trainer. A fit police officer with a physically demanding job in the field are often in great shape. Offering niche boot camps to the community with a focus around your training, security, and safety is a win. Instead of joining a generic boot camp, people are more likely to choose something unique and learn from someone whose job demands a certain level of physical activity.
However, don’t just launch a boot camp business without a little market research. It’s wise to survey interested people about what kind of training they’re looking for. Are they primarily focused on self-defense or getting fit? What price point are they willing to pay? Once you have some idea of what people want, it’s time to assess the competition. You don’t want to duplicate their success, but figure out where you can improve or innovate upon their existing idea. The goal is to stand-out from the competition and position yourself as the go-to for your specific type of boot camp.
7) Self-Defense Training for Women
Empower your community to protect themselves with self-defense training. Although other people in your community are probably competing with each other by offering martial arts training, you can specialize in down to earth, no-nonsense self-defense training for women. You can also earn more by teaching workshops to large groups and offering your services to local organizations and women’s groups.
This side hustle for police officers is similar to the niche boot camp idea. You want to make sure women want this type of service and what they’re comfortable with. How can you teach actionable skills they can take with them on a night out in the town or while traveling?
Survey what your target market is looking for and develop a self-defense course outline accordingly. Just like with a niche bootcamp, double check your competition. Who else is teaching similar classes and how can you crush the competition to make your side hustle the most popular and profitable in your community?
8) Start a Security Blog
Similar to a security writing side gig, you can also start your own security website or blog to work for yourself instead of other publications. However, there’s no way around it: Starting a blog takes time to see results, but is well-worth the effort. You can earn hundreds to thousands of dollars a month with ad revenue, online courses, and sponsored posts. Think through your expertise and pick a niche, such as:
- Protecting homes from intruders
- Helping property managers or landlords protect their properties
- Helping other police officers navigate their career journey
Whatever you choose should be interesting to write or you’ll have a hard time sustaining your blog. But more importantly, the content needs to be something people want to read and find helpful.
As you narrow down your focus, make sure to create highly valuable content readers want. Check to see who else is writing about similar content online to explore how you can improve it to make it even better. Study how they structure their content and if they’re providing answers in an easy-to-read format. As a rule of thumb, keep your articles at least 1,000 words, add (free) high-quality images from a site like Unsplash, and include subheadings that are easy to scan and quickly digest. Learn more about the step by step process to creating a blog in 2023.
Can Police Officers Have Side Hustles?
Of course, before you launch a side hustle for police officers, you need to make sure you can legally start one. In most situations, police can do side work without risking any adverse consequences. There may be some exceptions if you’re providing off-duty police work while still in uniform, such as helping traffic during a block party. It’s wise to check in with your HR or management to ask about internal policies and any stipulations. However, doing work beyond the scope of your duty as a police officer, for example as a fitness trainer, is usually fine.
How Much Do Police Make?
Studies show that national average annual wage of a police officer is $67,600, with the lowest 10% earning less than $39,130, and the highest 10% earned more than $113,860. Although these figures can feel comfortable in smaller towns and suburban areas, it doesn’t stretch far in other areas, such as the Northeast, Los Angeles, and expensive urban cores. Budget cuts have also made it difficult for our front line workers to make ends meet and get ahead.
Side hustles for police officers are becoming increasingly common, and they don’t need to suck up all your free time. Instead, look for side hustles that fit into your existing lifestyle, and align them with your interests. The goal is to enjoy your side hustle and empower yourself to meet your financial goals.
Next Steps: Side Hustle for Police Officers
The good news and bad news to side hustles are the same: There are too many to choose from. Having multiple options means you can create a few different revenue streams or specialize in just one, lucrative side hustle for police officers. Pick one from the list that aligns with your expertise, or brainstorm your own and set your first goal: Challenge yourself to earn $1,000 a month from your new side hustle.