Advisory Opinion No. 98-137

Re: Robert R. Barber

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, a Captain in the Cranston Police Department, a municipal employee position, who also is part-owner of a private business, El Dorado Consulting & Training Corporation, that provides consulting and training services to law enforcement agencies requests an advisory opinion as to whether he may a) describe his association and position with the Cranston Police Department in advertising literature to be distributed to agencies within the public and private sectors; b) advertise training seminars at local law enforcement agencies; c) provide training services to members of local law enforcement agencies; and d) conduct training seminars using the facilities of the Cranston Police Department that customarily have been utilized by outside agencies for a fee.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Code of Ethics does not prohibit the Petitioner, a Captain in the Cranston Police Department, a municipal employee position, who also operates a private business that provides consulting and training services, from a) forwarding advertisements to the public and private sector, including local law enforcement agencies, that detail services and upcoming training seminars; and b) including within advertising literature his association and position with the Cranston Police Department. However, under the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h), both the Petitioner and his company may contract with or provide services to local law enforcement agencies in the state only if the contract for such services has been awarded through an open and public bidding process. That prohibition does not bar the Petitioner or his company from soliciting or contracting with individual police officers from any municipality to provide training or consulting services. Finally, the Code of Ethics does not prohibit the Petitioner from using the facilities of the Cranston Police Department to hold training seminars. Here, the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h) are not applicable since the Petitioner is not contracting with a local police agency to provide training for compensation; nor is he or his company entering into a lease arrangement. Rather he and/or his company merely is using space at the Department for a set fee to provide training seminars to law enforcement officials.

The Petitioner is a twenty-three year veteran of the Cranston Police Department. His current rank is captain. He and his son, who is neither a law enforcement officer or a public official/employee, have formed a corporation to prove consulting and training services to state and municipal law enforcement agencies as well as to private sector companies and individuals. Specifically, the Petitioner anticipates that his company will provide training in general security, defensive driving techniques, self-defense, security systems installation and bodyguard protection. For law enforcement agencies, the Petitioner also plans to provide SWAT team training and assistance with the process necessary to receive accreditation from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. To provide such services, the Petitioner's corporation will engage third-party independent contractors. The Petitioner advises that he and the individuals associated with this corporation will perform all services on off-duty hours and will not utilize any departmental equipment.

A person subject to the Code of Ethics may not use his public employment or confidential information received through his public employment to obtain financial gain for himself or for a business which he represents. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). In addition, no person subject to the Code nor any business associate of said person nor any business entity in which the person or any person within his or her family has a ten percent or greater equity interest or five thousand dollars or greater cash value interest, may enter into a contract with a municipal agency unless "the contract has been awarded through an open and public process, including prior public notice and subsequent public disclosure of all proposals considered and contracts awarded." R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h).

The Commission recently addressed many of the issues raised in the Petitioner's request. In A.O. 98-112, we advised a Detective for the Cranston Police Department that the Code of Ethics did not prohibit him from operating a business that provided self-defense\use-of-force training to local and out-of-state police agencies or, in conjunction with his business, representing that he is a Detective with the Cranston Police Department. The Commission advised the Petitioner, however, that, under the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h), he could provide training services to police departments in the state (other than the City of Cranston) only if the contract for such services had been awarded through an open and public bidding process. This would not, however, prevent him from soliciting or contracting with individual police officers to provide self-defense training or services since he would not be contracting with or providing services directly to the municipality. In a related opinion, the Commission also advised this Detective that he could use training facilities from local law enforcement agencies provided that he complied with the standard policies for use of such facilities. See A.O. 98-136.

As to the present request, after considering the relevant provisions and the past advisory opinions, it is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Code of Ethics would not prohibit the Petitioner from a) conducting his business; b) advertising his services to local law enforcement agencies, or c) describing his association and position with the Cranston Police Department in advertising literature. The Petitioner is advised, however, that although, as he claims, local law enforcement agencies do not generally adhere to competitive bidding when retaining contractors to provide specialized training, neither he nor his company may provide such services to state or municipal law enforcement agencies unless the contract for such services had been awarded after an open and competitive bidding process as specified in R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h). This opinion would not prevent the Petitioner or his company from contracting with individual police officers to provide such services.

Also, the Code of Ethics does not bar the Petitioner from providing training seminars hosted at the facilities of the Cranston Police Department provided that he is not compensated by the Department for his services, pays the Department the fair market value for the use of its facilities, and his use of the facilities complies with standard polices. Here, the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(h) are not applicable since the Petitioner is not contracting with a local police agency to provide training for compensation; nor is he entering into a lease, for instance, to use the facility for the next two years. The arrangement here is simply using space at the Department for a set fee on an ad hoc basis, in the same manner that other agencies use the facilities. Therefore, the Petitioner and or business are not prohibited by the Code from using Department facilities for fair market value to provide training seminars offered by his business to law enforcement officials.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(d)

36-14-5(h)

Related Advisory Opinions:

98-136

98-112

98-63

97-72

Keywords:

Contracts

Private employment