Should Police Accept Gratuities? What is a gratuity? A gratuity is to gift something to another person based only on their occupation. More often than not, a gratuity is given to police officers by way of employees and owners in the service industry. Often gratuities are given to officers to show admiration or for services expected or services that have already happened (Crank and Caldero). Is offering officers free coffee or a free meal a bad thing? It can be bad if that person is expecting to gain a favor in the future or the coffee has strings attached to with it. Also, the gesture could be done just as an assurance that police will be present at their establishment which can be a deterrent for theft or a robbery. There are the skeptics
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However, is taking a free cup of coffee really the beginning of become a corrupt cop? Would a police officer think taking a free cup of coffee or meal continuously lead to a pattern of bad behavior? Also does it make them an unethical police officer to take free coffee or a free meal? All these questions depend on the officer and his reaction to being offered free or discounted items. If an officer accepts the free coffee with no expectations of ever receiving it again, then there is very little harm in taking the coffee. However, on the other hand when officers start expecting or demanding free benefits or free items there is a problem. Officers that become accustomed to receiving the free items so they then think they should receive free items everywhere have become unethical. There are four main reasons that gratuities are given to law enforcement officers and they are:
1. Because of the theory of reciprocity, which is where people feel like they owe something to the giver. For example, an officer would take a gift from someone then in turn would feel obligated to do something in …show more content…
This way of thinking is similar to other professions and is a way to promote community relations. If an officer turns down a insignificant or minor gratuities it hurts the start of building a relationship with the community and could have an adverse effect on the relationships with the community (Kania, 1988). Richard R.E. Kania the Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice and Policy Studies at Guilford College had this type of opinion about police taking gratuities. He thought that police especially and under some circumstances other justice officials should be encouraged to take minor gratuities and that by doing this the officer was building a positive social relationship with the public. He believed that criminal justice educators and police trainers should approach gratuities for police with more of an open-mind. He thought that trainers and educators should even promote the acceptance of minor gratuities, of course within certain carefully qualified circumstances, under carefully created guidelines and standards. Mr. Kania even mentions that he recalled an incident in his policing career where he observed a police officer reject free coffee and that created a rift between the officer and the community (Kania,
However, is taking a free cup of coffee really the beginning of become a corrupt cop? Would a police officer think taking a free cup of coffee or meal continuously lead to a pattern of bad behavior? Also does it make them an unethical police officer to take free coffee or a free meal? All these questions depend on the officer and his reaction to being offered free or discounted items. If an officer accepts the free coffee with no expectations of ever receiving it again, then there is very little harm in taking the coffee. However, on the other hand when officers start expecting or demanding free benefits or free items there is a problem. Officers that become accustomed to receiving the free items so they then think they should receive free items everywhere have become unethical. There are four main reasons that gratuities are given to law enforcement officers and they are:
1. Because of the theory of reciprocity, which is where people feel like they owe something to the giver. For example, an officer would take a gift from someone then in turn would feel obligated to do something in …show more content…
This way of thinking is similar to other professions and is a way to promote community relations. If an officer turns down a insignificant or minor gratuities it hurts the start of building a relationship with the community and could have an adverse effect on the relationships with the community (Kania, 1988). Richard R.E. Kania the Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice and Policy Studies at Guilford College had this type of opinion about police taking gratuities. He thought that police especially and under some circumstances other justice officials should be encouraged to take minor gratuities and that by doing this the officer was building a positive social relationship with the public. He believed that criminal justice educators and police trainers should approach gratuities for police with more of an open-mind. He thought that trainers and educators should even promote the acceptance of minor gratuities, of course within certain carefully qualified circumstances, under carefully created guidelines and standards. Mr. Kania even mentions that he recalled an incident in his policing career where he observed a police officer reject free coffee and that created a rift between the officer and the community (Kania,