You’re making an awful lot of assumptions. For example, I would be shocked that an off duty police officer would be wearing his duty uniform when working a private security job. I don’t know about Texas, but in AZ that would be unheard of. Elsewhere, it does seem okay in Missouri.
Far more of the story is emerging, very different:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/st-louis-police-shooting-no-stranger-to-law-enforcement
I don’t know how authoritative this site is, but it seems to agree with me:
http://www.wisegeek.com/does-an-off-duty-police-officer-have-authority.htm
I do have a lot of real world experience (28 yrs) that I am drawing from that does lead me to those assumptions. What part of that site agrees with you? Help me out because I am not seeing it.
Quoted from the news article:
“The police said in a Thursday statement that the officer involved was a 32-year-old white male with six years of service. They noted that, while the officer wasn’t on duty, he still had the same authority “to affect arrest and the officer operates in the capacity as a St. Louis Police Officer.”
An investigation is ongoing, the statement said.
The agencies in my are area are prohibited by policy from working off duty security except in duty uniform. Plain clothes security is really a thing of the past these days. Like I said, the business owner wants armed security that can take enforcement action. There are two type of security guard. Some are unarmed and then some are armed. Then there are off-duty police. These guys were bad news, the guy was armed and ran, fired on the officer, Officer dispatched the threat and went home. Glad Officer is ok.