I worked in a movie theater for a summer where on-duty police got free popcorn and soft drinks, but only in the small “courtesy” cups that the staff had to use. The larger sizes were all inventoried.
As a doorman/bouncer it’s not like they’re going to be coming in and lining up at the bar for a beer while on duty, but off duty I’ll usually give them a pass on any cover charge or only charge for a portion of their party. This is tempered by how they act. If they’re jerks then they get charged, courtesy should extend in both directions. and I also have a job to do. I do the same for any active military personnel in uniform and the bartenders will serve their first drink (within reason) free. This again is conditional. Act like a decent human being and you’ll get treated like one. Act like a self-entitled scumbag and you get treated like any other self-entitled scumbag.
I grew up around law enforcement and military people and am neither biased against nor intimidated by them. I do appreciate the difficult job they do and try to treat them as I’d want to be treated. I don’t expect anything more than courtesy in return.
I’ve been both LE and military. I’m neither intimidated nor impressed by them; nor do I see any reason to fawn over them. Lots of people do difficult, dangerous jobs but nobody thinks to kiss their asses or give them free stuff.
Alaskan crab fishermen have a fatality rate of 141.7 per 100,000. Cops, on the other hand, have a rate of 14 per 100,000. The most dangerous war in which to be US military was our own civil war and it had a fatality rate of 6.06 per 100,000. How many get weepy over their bucket o’ legs at Red Lobster thinking of all the men who died to make that meal possible?
A good cop is never hungry, cold, or tired.
So, I’ve been told.
Don’t know about around here. But when I lived outside of Baltimore, MD, any 7-11 (24hr convenience store) that I knew of would give free coffee/snack food to uniformed officers. The idea was that it would encourage the cops to stop there for coffee/snacks instead of going somewhere else, and any would-be robbers would see that cops were there all the time, and back off. (Of course, in all honesty, the town I live in now has a police department that consists of exactly one cop, who works a 40-hour week; if Jerry’s not on duty, you have to call the county sheriff!)
At that time, my husband (then-boyfriend) worked as a PI. He carried a badge. Once, when we went to the movies, he took out his wallet to get money to pay; the cashier saw his badge and asked if he was a cop; he said no, he was a PI. She waved us in any way, no charge. Another time, we went to join a video store (remember when they used to charge membership fees? If you don’t remember, I’m too damned old. . .) and when he took out his wallet to get his ID, the manager saw his badge. Manager said “We don’t charge membership fees to guys with badges; are you a cop?” He said no, PI. On his membership application, under ‘occupation’, the manager put FBI “Because it’s more interesting than the truth”, he said. 
So the hubby never lied about what he did, but occasionally we reaped the ‘cop reward’ anyway. 
These days, he works for the federal gov’t and is expressly forbidden from taking so much as a cup of free coffee from a non-fed agency.
I can’t cite, but I worked for a police department and the frequently-reiterated policy was that coffee or a soda is OK if freely offered but nothing else. It was absolutely not OK to ask or assume that it was free, though one business actually had a formal policy to give free coffee to all police officers at any location. The gas station wanted squad cars to be a frequent sight in their lot to combat drive-offs. (It worked, actually.)
I went on ride-alongs many times and it was very common for businesses to offer other things, like free food or merchandise. Obviously, there are problems if cops accept this routinely – the appearance of impropriety, if nothing else.
Offering free food or drink isn’t a big concern. There’s plenty of businesses that will do that for frequent customers or customers they’d really like to have, whether or not they’re police. It’s when either party starts treating it as a transaction, goodies for protection, that it becomes an issue.
I won’t be able to sleep until this is resolved. 
As an added aside, I’ll say this: I worked for a number of years as a home nurse. I was expressly forbidden by my company of employment to accept anything more than a glass of water from clients or their family members.
I can see the reason for this: the company didn’t want anyone thinking a loved one would get better care if they fed us, etc. But many families went out of their way to make sure I had a fresh pot of coffee, a plate with sandwiches, chips, a couple pieces of fruit, etc. Even though it was against company policy (and I always had my own supplies with me; I never expected anything like this from the client/family), I always thought it would have been rude of me to not take what was freely and hospitably offered.
So basically if someone decides they don’t want to give out free coffee, they won’t have the deterrent of a police car in their parking lot. Those who give out the free coffee are getting a benefit, essentially amounting to private security in the form of a sworn law enforcement officer.
That you note “it worked” is good evidence of the impropriety of the situation.
Well, evidently Firehouse varies. My point was that I had assumed that a company which relies so heavily on the image of firefighter-as-hero would, you know, do a little something for actual firefighters, as a matter of policy throughout the company. Their Roanoke-area locations definitely were not doing anything to say thanks in 2009.
I wasn’t debating the ethics either way, but claiming that a police car in your lot equates to receiving private security is pretty extreme. Would it help to know that police officers were only stopping in during their duly appointed break and lunch schedules? Because officers have to log their locations during any time the vehicle is stopped (for safety), the computer system also used as a time management tool. If you’re stopped at a gas station known for free coffee but are logging it as a routine patrol rather than break time, any sergeant is going to know you’re goofing off getting coffee and hanging around, and that’s not cool.
It’s hard for me to object too hard in any case. An officer on patrol duty gets his appointed break and lunch periods and can stop off at home, or at a restaurant, during those times. You could argue that having a squad car in front of his home regularly provides him and his neighbors a security benefit at the government’s expense. But, logistically, it doesn’t make sense – considering response time alone – to make an officer come back to the station for all breaks or lunches, and/or come back and change out of his uniform and into his personal vehicle for each break and lunch, just to avoid any potential unfairness of benefit. Having visible police officers is a benefit to the whole community.
For what it’s worth, it is also customary in this area for private businesses to hire off-duty police officers as actual private security, and they are permitted to wear their police uniform during this time. This is permitted as long as the security does not exceed a certain number of hours per month, does not affect the officer’s work attendance or ability to do the job, and is arranged through the appropriate formal channels.
Jesus Christ, did some one put a pea under your mattress? If this is the sort of thing that you get outraged about you must not be able to read the paper without having an aneurysm.
Stranger
Look–I worked a part-time job for a while driving a taxi. We got free drinks–any size, as much as we wanted–at one particular stop & rob in town. The only benefit this store received from us was that we would regularly purchase our gas from them at the end of our shift. I’m sure they lost money on that proposition.
It’s just up to the judgement of the owner or managers to determine who gets the freebees.
Years ago, I worked in a Saddle Shop in Minneapolis. We had one small display case of holsters, gunbelts, etc. And we had an arrangement where we supplied discount coupons to the police department, and they gave one to each person at the graduation ceremony for the police training academy. So we would see new police officers come in to buy holsters, etc. (The department supplied the guns & uniforms, but holsters were personal property of each officer.)
These coupons were a real big discount, something like 50% off. I think the store actually lost money if that was the only thing they bought. But the owners reasoning was a combination of ‘it’s good to have cops seen around the store’, ‘it’s good to be on friendly terms when you need their help’, and ‘it’s good to get them started as repeat customers’.
I am. I work the night shift in a service industry. Over the years, I have been threatened with guns, knives, and blunt instruments. People in my line of work have been assaulted and killed, just a few blocks from my workplace.
The cops in my town have much better manners. If someone wants to be nice to them, that’s fine with me. On an abstract, ivory-tower, theoretical level, I understand the potential for abuse. But in my personal experience, corrupt cops have been few and far between, and they usually don’t last long. Guys in blue uniforms are a much lower threat than guys in gang colors.
Cops’ wives can be greedy chiselers. But the cops themselves are usually well-behaved.
In my parlance giving freebies on the grounds that the person offered them has a certain position and you expect some services in return is called bribery. How could it be anything else?
THe McDonald’s I worked at as a youth gave free food to cops, for the same reasons as mentioned - we wanted them to hang around our store. Yes, I suppose it is a form of bribery.
Can’t say I used to lie awake nights worrying about it.
Regards,
Shodan
Well, your job is one that tends to make you vulnerable, but then again I suppose it depends where you live. I get the impression that Americans as a whole tend to be much more afraid of crime than I am. If I’m right, the question becomes whether this fear is warranted or whether it’s a cultural quirk.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if people who are more afraid of crime and who tend to see crime as a threat coming from the outside are more likely to support the police and more likely to see no big deal in giving them free stuff to “thank” them and ensure their favour.
I agree with you on that, but it still doesn’t mean every case, or even most cases are based on a bad intent from either party. I’m stuck on coming to a personal conclusion in this question, because I’ve offered favors to the police both as a mild form of ‘bribery’ and for altruistic reasons.
Yeah I do it.
I work at a deli and whenever I weigh stuff for a cop or a EMS person or a soldier I set the scale to a higher tare so they get some of it for free. It’s really just for my own mental benefit though, because with that method the person doesn’t really know you’re doing it unless they’re paying attention to the numbers on the scale.
When I worked for Pizza Hut, I heard stories of policemen ordering pizza while on a stakeout. When the driver saw it was the police, the driver offered to give the police the pizza for free. The cop refused, and said it was illegal for them to accept it for free, so the driver took the payment with a tip and left. I also personally delivered to a fire station, and they paid in full as well.
I also heard from classmates who used to work at 7/11. At certain times, they regularly dump their pastries and hot food. The police know exactly when to show up to get free coffee and doughnuts.