Although our police officers put their own lives at risk every day, they’re still hit with a few challenges within the community. It only takes one corrupt officer to bring down an entire police force. Unfortunately, a few bad choices can cause enormous challenges for all the good police officers.
Today, many police officers face a lack of credit for all the good they do each and every day. They’re also faced with a lack of budget support, which is needed to make some great improvements. With this being said, there’s no better time than now to show police officer appreciation to those many officers who strive to make the community a better place.
If someone you know is a police officer, or if you simply want to show your appreciation to all police officers in your community, then continue reading below. Here are several helpful appreciation gifts for police officers to consider!
1. Display and Wear Shades of Blue
Sure, there are many various gifts you could purchase for a police officer, but when a cost-effective way of saying thank you is to show your police pride. You can do this by wearing or displaying shades of blue. Police officers are known for their blue uniforms.
On police appreciation day, you can wear a blue ribbon or a blue outfit. You can also place blue lights on your home by switching out your exterior lightbulbs with blue ones.
2. Offer a Police Officer Challenge Coin
If you’re the chief of police and want to show appreciation to your officers, then you can hand out police coins to those who’ve earned them. What’s a police challenge coin? Challenge coins are created with specific disciplines in mind.
These coins can be given out to police officers to show appreciation and recognition of accomplishments, achievements, long-term service, and promotions. Your officers will take pride in these coins and can collect various ones over time.
3. Thank an Officer in Person
It’s not uncommon to see an office out in public. They spend their days traveling around the community making sure everyone is safe. You can often spot police officers at local schools, in various stores or shopping plazas, and more.
When you do come across a police officer in public, take a few quick seconds to stop and say, “thank you.” It cost nothing to do so and doesn’t take much time out of your day either. However, you’ll leave that police officer feeling more appreciated than ever.
4. Schedule a Tour of the Police Station
Many police stations are willing to give tours. These tours give police officers the chance to show others what a typical day in the life of an officer looks like. Schools, church groups, and other organizations are often found touring the station.
This can be a positive moment in many children’s lives. The tour might even spark an interest in a new career for some. Your interest in learning about the station and the various roles of police officers shows appreciation.
Aside from a tour of the station, schools can also ask police officers to stop by and let children explore the inside of a police cruiser while giving information about a police officer’s daily duties.
5. Provide a Police Officer Discount
Are you a local business owner? An easy way to give thanks to police officers in the community is to offer a special discount just for them. The discount doesn’t have to be anything significant, but it can if you want!
A 10% or 50% discount for police officers on a daily basis will show your appreciation and gather a lot of traffic from them on a daily basis, which can create more sales. Once news gets around that your business offers this type of discount, the entire police station will come to visit!
6. Purchase a Meal For a Police Officer in Public
You’re out grabbing a quick lunch and spot an officer waiting to order their meal. You know how busy their day has been and can’t even begin to imagine what they’ve seen or dealt with so far. An easy way to say thanks is to pay for their meal.
You can also consider ordering catering from a local restaurant and having it sent to the police station. They’ll be surprised by the gesture and will know the food is safe to eat because it’ll be delivered straight from the restaurant of your choice.
7. Donate to Your Local Police Station
Not all police stations have the budget to afford all of the items they need on a regular basis. Some items to consider donating are hand sanitizer, pens and pencils, and stuffed animals (they hand out to children). If you’re not sure exactly what the station is in need of, then you can contact them directly and ask.
They’ll let you know what inexpensive items you can donate to the station that they’ll get good use out of.
Let’s Show Some Police Officer Appreciation
Sometimes, everything police officers do for the community goes unnoticed. We want to show some police officer appreciation to let them know that there are still people in the community who respect and acknowledge all they do.
Use all of the helpful information given in this guide above to begin brainstorming some ideas. Use these ideas or come up with a few of your own to ensure you show thanks to a police officer any chance you get.
Then, to find more topics on business, fitness, health, and more, continue to check back here often!
