If you get pulled over by the Cortland Police Department this week, there's hope for a happy ending.

The Cortland Police Department, like any other, has been busy with rule breakers on the roads. Over the last two days they’ve rans dozens of licenses and tags.

But not handing out citations, instead dishing out gift certificates.

“When they see that the officers are there to give them a gift, they’re very open to the idea. They love it,” said Cortland Police officer Jesse Abbot.

Abbott said the gift citation program is in its second year. But, only those with small traffic offenses get a gift.

“We’re giving these gift certificates to people who might have a headlight out. You know some minor infraction. And they might not know their headlights out. They need someone to stop them and tell them,” said Abbott.

Abbott says it helps build crucial relationships between cop and community.

“30 patrolman patrolling the city of Cortland, you know, it isn’t, it’s tough. You need the community; you need the partnerships to work together,” said Abbott

Over two days, they handed out 10 of these citations and these tickets aren’t cheap. They’re worth 25 bucks a piece.” But, the goodwill is worth so much more.

“It is a nice gesture and I appreciate it very much and they didn’t need to do that,” said Cortland resident Thomas Reynolds.

Reynolds even got out of the car to say thanks. Now, he's just got to figure out what to do with the gift certificate.

Lucky for him there’s a number of places in downtown Cortland that’ll accept the citation.

The money used to pay for the gift certificates comes directly from grant funding. They do accept donations as well.

If you would like to donate you can stop by the Community Policing Office at 67 Main Street in Cortland or stop by the chief’s office at City Hall.