I worked at two McDonalds, both in the Seattle area, 20+ years ago. The first one was in Mill Creek (a rich area south of Everett), the cops weren't allowed to take discounts. The second place was in downtown (3rd and Pine); we literally couldn't stay open without hiring an off duty officer. Hiring went through the SPD and was tightly regulated.
Offering a cop discounted food to hang out at your restaurant means, while taxpayers are flipping the bill, somewhere else isn't being covered as well. Hiring an off duty cop for part time security work, in contrast, doesn't reduce coverage.
Yeh always wondered about that. There are a few 24 hour gas stations in Dublin, Ireland that give discounts to on duty officers so it attracts them to be there through their night shift to reduce robberies. But as you said, if they're there, they're not somewhere else. Clever for the gas station, but not so much for everyone else methinks
It was better and worse, we had two floors back then, I worked at night (going to UW during the day), so most of the customers were homeless...no drugs that I could tell, but lots of booze.
Some great people to work with, though (mostly from the Philippines). Also, it was never boring.
Offering a cop discounted food to hang out at your restaurant means, while taxpayers are flipping the bill, somewhere else isn't being covered as well. Hiring an off duty cop for part time security work, in contrast, doesn't reduce coverage.