Policy Text
CATEGORY DATE ADOPTED LAST REVIEW NEXT REVIEW
4 01/24/2011 10/01/201 8 10/01/20 20
TUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT GENERAL ORDERS
__________________________
373 - Gifts, Gratuities and Donations 1 POLICY 373 GIFTS, GRATUITIES, AND DONATIONS
373.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of this policy is to describe the requirements and procedures to follow when dealing
with situations involving gifts, gratuities, and donations.
373.1.1 ACCREDITATION STANDA RDS
This section pertains to the following CALEA Standards: N/A
373.2 ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS AND GRATUITIES
Employees shall neither solicit nor accept from any person, business, or organization any gift,
gratuity, bribe, or reward, which benefits the indivi dual employee, if it may be reasonably inferred
that the person, business, or organization:
a) Seeks to influence action of an official nature or seeks to affect the performance or non -
performance of an official duty ;
b) Has an interest which may be substantial ly affected directly or indirectly by the
performance or non -performance of an official duty .
When making purchases, whether on or off duty, employees shall pay the register tape or
presented ticket price for food or any other services. Discounts will not be solicited by any
employee where his/her official position is used to affect same. If the ticket price is discounted,
employees shall always be prepared to make up the discount in the form of a tip. Personnel are
not encouraged to frequent locations whe re it is known that discounts are obtainable, and the
Chief of Police reserves the right to limit or deny access to problem establishments.
Nothing in this rule is intended to prohibit the Chief of Police to authorize the solicitation and
acceptance of a donation, which is a gift or consideration to the Police Department that primarily
benefits the community or department as a whole . Generally, these types of donations are
received from members of the community by way of the front counter and may come in various
forms. In order to provide guidance in accepting and disseminating these types of donations, the
following parameters should be followed:
Food items: Food items should be accepted and shared with the department as a whole.
Generally, an email to the department will suffice in these situations.
Items of Monetary Value: This may include items such as gifts cards, gift certificates and event
tickets. If these donations have a monetary value that exceeds $50.00, the donation will be given
to the W atch Commander and routed to the Chief’s Office for disbursement. Items with a value of
$50.00 or less can be distributed at the discretion of the Watch Commander.
• An exemption to this policy would apply to time sensitive donations such as
sporting or en tertainment events. In these situations, the Watch Commander will
CATEGORY DATE ADOPTED LAST REVIEW NEXT REVIEW
4 01/24/2011 10/01/201 8 10/01/20 20
TUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT GENERAL ORDERS
__________________________
373 - Gifts, Gratuities and Donations 2 determine the timeliness issue. If there is not ample time for the donation to be
routed to the Chief’s Office for disbursement, the Watch Commander has the
authority to disperse the donat ion.
Cash Donations: Except as provided in 373.2.1 and 373.2.2 , cash donations will not be
accepted. If a community member wants to donate cash for the benefit of the department or its
membership , they should be referred to the office of the Chief of Po lice, the Tustin Police
Foundation , or TPOA Cares.
Any unauthorized gift, gratuity, loan, fee, reward or other thing of value falling into any of these
categories coming into the possession of any employee shall be forwarded via the chain of
command to the office of the Chief of Police together with a written report explaining the
circumstances of the receipt.
Employees are prohibited from buying or selling anything of value from or to any complainant,
suspect, witness, defendant, prisoner, or other pers on involved in any case which has come to
his/her attention or which arose out of his /her departmental employment when such transaction
might tend to cause adverse reflection on the department o r any employee.
373.2. 1 DONATIONS NOT INTENDED FOR RECEIPT BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
Employees, or groups of employees, who solici t funds that are not intended for receipt by the
Police Department m ust do so while off duty and not within any city owned or leased building.
Employees or groups of employees, engaged in such activity may not use any Tustin Police
Department equipment, uniform, badge, shoulder patch, official identification card, business card,
insignia, decal, or logo in any effort to solicit funds, including written or verbal solicitations. This
prohibition includes using any Tustin Police Department equipment , uniform, badge, shoulder
patch, official identification card, business card, insignia, decal, or logo with the badge number or
the Police Department name crossed out or obscured.
All such soli citations must include a statement identifying the employee or employee group that is
seeking the contributions and expressing that the Tustin Police Department is a separate agency
not affiliated with the solicitation.
Any exception to this policy must b e approved in advance by the Chief of Police.
373.2. 2