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Law Enforcement Officers and Gratuities
This paper discusses the acceptance of gratuities by law enforcement and when it is and isn't acceptable.
Law Enforcement Officers and Gratuities
Law enforcement officers are role models for society. As such, they are held to the strictest level of integrity. Oftentimes, this means a high level of scrutiny when it comes to things such as the acceptance of gratuities. The question then becomes when is it acceptable to accept gratuities, and when is it not.
Gratuities, in general, are tokens of appreciation, in exchange for something someone has done. At first thought, it may appear that there never would be an instance when gratuities are acceptable. However, this is not the case. Gratuities are acceptable when it's given to the force at large, and not one single, or a select few, officers. As an example, a Girl Scout troop wishes to thank the police department for giving them a tour of their facility. As a token of their appreciation, they bake several dozen cookies and bring them in, with a thank you card. This gratuity is not directed at anyone in particular and it does not have the intention of garnering special favor. These gratuitous cookies are simply a show of appreciation to the police force in general and enhance the job satisfaction factor for officers.
On the other hand, the Code of Ethics states that "Officers will refuse to accept any gifts, presents, subscriptions, favors, gratuities or promises that could be interpreted as seeking to cause the officer to refrain from performing official responsibilities honestly and within the law" (n.d.). With this in mind, it would not be acceptable for an officer to accept a free oil change, in exchange for him not reporting the fact that he noticed a stolen car in the back of shop. Even when gratuities are given without a specific 'favor' in mind, it could be implied that that officer will give special treatment to the person at a later date, and for this reason, in general, gratuities should not be accepted.
References
Code of ethics online. (No date). Retrieved July 21, 2006, at http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/coe/Law_Enforcement_Code_of_Ethics.html.
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