If gifts are only provided to show appreciation, that may not be apparent to others and may be misinterpreted. Far better to encourage the community to show appreciation by contributing to police welfare charities, i.e. widows and orphans, than reward individuals. Such policies need elucidation and then circulation to local communities. If gifts and coffee give the general public cause for concern, then more serious matters such as criminal behavior inevitably have an even worse effect. Distrust occurs when people believe they have been hurt in the past by the police or know of instances that worry them.
People begin to question motives and look for any perceived inequity or unfairness.
Where trust is low, resistance and suspicion increase and rumors, however bizarre are sufficient to make police public relationships worse. Any tendency for real or perceived instances of police lack of integrity to undermine relationships with the police are considerably aggravated among minority groups who already have a lower esteem for the police. That lack of respect and trust with the community may eventually mean that any police authority in the community is lost and disorder results. When this low esteem deteriorates into public unrest this has more disastrous effects on the views of minorities about the police. In Britain, after the Brixton riots in 1981, two thirds of the West Indian community believed their groups were unfairly treated, particularly in relation to stop and search, fabrication of evidence and the use of force or violence.