Officer Fredricks is an officer with five years in the department and is working patrol. Officer Fredricks often eats with his co-workers when they do not have calls together. The officers routinely go to the same restaurants for their lunch breaks. These restaurants "comp" the officer's meals, meaning the meals are free. The owners have stated that they like the officer's presence there as their cars in the parking lot and presence in the restaurant may deter the bad people from coming in. One day Officer Fredricks and Officer Smith went into the restaurant to eat, and the server handed them a bill for full price. Officer Fredricks begins to argue with the server stating, "Our meals are always free here, talk to the owner" The server comes back and apologizes saying they are new. The bill was then comped, and the officers walked out laughing. Officer Smith returned shortly to leave a small $5 tip.

A citizen overheard this conversation and filed a complaint with Internal Affairs stating it was inappropriate, unprofessional, and corrupt for the officers to get a free meal. This citizen threatened to go to the media if something was not done. The citizen did admit that Officer Smith left some money on the table.

You are the internal affairs investigator. What steps will you take in this investigation? Write a thorough report regarding your findings.