As i have posted before, i reside in a small town with a police problem. They are overbearing and involved in seemingly every aspect of the community.
I currently own a discount general store in town that has become quite popular with the locals and business is booming!
Can i legally refuse service to the officers in town?
Not saying i will, or how smart it would be…just wondering, is it legal to refuse service to a certain occupation? Could i refuse service to the garbageman? Postal Workers? The Priest?
Depends on the anti-discrimination laws of the place where your store is situated, obviously.
Not many jurisdictions, I’m guessing, have laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of occupation or employment, but you’d need to consider whether it might amount to indirect discrimination on a prohibited ground.
Yes, you can.
That is, you can refuse to sell them items, you can ask them leave, as a customer, and from then on, they can only be there on official business.
If they’re just stopping in to buy something, they’re just customers like any other customers, there’s no reason why you can’t refuse to sell them something like you can refuse any other citizen/customer.
Police officers aren’t a protected class in any jurisdiction that I know of. You could probably put up a big sign with an X across a police officer icon and be technically fine. Kick them out as soon as they walk in. However, I have never heard of such a thing a doubt the wisdom of it in general. Many businesses like to encourage police officers to hang around to prevent shoplifting and robberies. What are they doing that is so bad?
Sure put a sign up that says ‘We refuse to serve police officers’ or ‘cops not welcome on the premises’ and if they come in to shop tell them to leave or… well… um… you’ll call the other cops’
Cops aren’t a protected class. It’s possible for some jurisdictions to list occupation as a protected class but it’s highly unlikely any town would have such a law unless there was a history of discrimination due to occupation. A discount store refusing to serve police officers could very well cause such a law to be written.
You can’t refuse to serve a priest as religion is a protected class.
I have no idea why the OP doesn’t want cops shopping in his store, he only asked if he’s allowed to ask them not to. But just as an example for why you might not want them to, one reason might be if your customers don’t like them. Say, for example, you run a business where the clientele consists of (for whatever reason) high school kinds that tend to appear (or smell) stoned or drunk. A popular late night pizza place might attract that type of crowd. If the local cops liked to eat there as well, you might lose that customer base since they’ll be nervous about getting busted.
That’s just off the top of my head.
Also, in a case like that, I wouldn’t put up a sign, I’d probably go to the chief and have a discussion with him/her, explaining that the cops patronizing the bussiness is scaring away the customers and ‘is there anything we can do about that?’. The problem is, you’ll have to expect some backlash. Most likely just lowered response times and less pro-active help WRT crime reduction, but if they get the city inspectors and/or licensing committee involved it’ll be a bigger headache. But it’s really driving away a lot of customers, I’d start with the chief and ask him if we can work on a solution, even if it just means the cops shopping there at a different time.
Basically just have a stranglehold on the community.
Can’t jaywalk without getting a ticket (and this is a rural town with almost no traffic, ticketing a jaywalker when they are endangering no one is just crazy)
Also speed traps coming in and out.
Once i was in a coffee shop, the police walk in and grab themselves a pastry from behind the counter while the owner was serving other customers (and no, the owner did not have personal connections with that officer)
If they are such arrogant people as you say, and can get away with the things you describe, it seems to be utter nonsense that you would be able to run a profitable business with such a policy. It would be like putting a sign up saying, “I don’t get along with the police, please rob me.”
When arrogant dicks carry guns and handcuffs, and can write traffic tickets that cause you to lose your driver’s license, etc…it would be wise to be very,very careful before you piss them off.
Legally, you probably have the right to refuse service to them. (for example, you could place a sign saying “no guns allowed on premises at any time.”)
But usually in life, it is better to be wise than to be right.
IANAL, but I would think the general precept here would be that you can refuse service to someone or ask them to leave based on what they do, but not based on what they are.
Regardless of whether we’re talking about a protected class or not, it seems a little bit un-American to discriminate on the second basis.
In the OP’s case, I too am imagining a situation similar to one hinted at by an earlier poster: you refuse service to a cop and he insists, or you ask a cop to leave and he refuses. What are you going to do then?
Someone else suggested “kicking them out.” If you do this literally (i.e., take physical action to remove them from your premises without them having actually done anything other than occupy your space), then you have clearly broken the law.
If the police are so corrupt as to shoplift, then I don’t blame you for not wanting them in your store.
I also agree that the jaywalking thing is silly.
Speed traps… well, if you’re speeding, you deserve to get a ticket. Even if it’s “just” five over. I never understood why so many people hate speeding tickets. Just like red-light and stop-sign tickets, you deserve it for violating traffic safety law!
To answer your question, though: in most jurisdictions, discrimination based on employment is not prohibited. To be sure, though, check your municipal, county, and state laws.
Even if you have the legal right to refuse service, you will quickly become known to all the police officers and could become a target of harassment. They will start to show up daily asking to see your business license, zoning permits, or what-not. If they can figure out how to fine you, they will welcome the revenue.
I assume you have never in your life rolled through a red light trying to get through on yellow, crossed the street outside a crosswalk, or exceeded the speed limit by even 1 MPH. Nonetheless, if there was such vigorous enforcement of traffic laws everywhere, nearly everybody in the metro D.C. area would be getting a ticket for something every day. And nobody would be any safer.
Sure you can, as long as the reason isn’t religion. I had a minister bounce a check and never make good on it. I turned him over to a collection agency and refused all future service; because he was a deadbeat, not because he was a man of god.
OP, as a business owner you should have some pull with your town council/elders/whatever. If you and other business owners can get together and politely and objectively let them know that the town’s officers are a detriment to everyday life in the town then they may decide ticket revenue is less important than the goodwill of business owners and the general public. If there is any tourist traffic in your area also mention that visitors to your town shouldn’t have harassment for minor violations to remember your town by.
Our small town had a problem with officers constantly setting up speed traps on the outskirts of town, and finally after a year or two town council did listen the the citizens and put a stop to it.
Most people use the term “speed trap” to be a situation where the cops are intentionally trying to trick you. For example, you’re going along down an ordinary country road at 55 mph and then suddenly, for no reason, the speed limit drops to 30 mph and the sign is partially hidden behind a tree branch. You don’t see the sign until you’re almost past it. You react by slowing down to 30, but in that five seconds that it takes you to slow down, the officer sitting next to that same tree has already clocked you going 40+ in a 30 zone, pulls you over and writes a ticket. That’s a speed trap.
On TV and in movies, I’ve seen even worse (fictional) examples. Such as, there’s a sign which says 55, and right as you’re driving past it, the cop touches a button on a remote control and the sign flips over to say 30. Usually, these fictional cops specifically target out-of-state cars, so the locals don’t get mad.
If there is a legitimate need for the speed limit to drop to 30 (such as you’re entering a town, with crosswalks and intersections and maybe a school or two) then it should be obvious that the driving conditions have changed and it’s not a surprise. In many cases, they’ll put up signs to warn you, like “Reduced Speed Ahead”. Or there will be one sign which say 55, followed by another which says 45, and a third which says 30, spaced about a quarter mile apart. That way, you have some warning which gives you time to react.
Simply driving along in a 55 zone where you KNOW it’s a 55 zone but you decide to go 59 instead and then there’s a cop sitting on the side of the road… that’s not a speed trap.
The small town where I used to live was on the way from Princeton to the interstate, and was well known for giving tickets to those who went far faster than the 25 mph posted limit in the center of town. But residents were not targeted. I got pulled over once - and I was speeding - and the cop apologized to me and did not even give me a warning. And I thanked him and supported him.
Small town voters have power. If cops foul their own nest, they can find that the next election gets a mayor and council who won’t give them raises or even cans them.
