By Police1 Staff
It’s the season of giving and police departments across the country are continuing to serve and protect by giving back to those in need this holiday season.
In our roundup below, we feature a variety of ways departments are giving back this year through toy and food drives, visits with Santa and “Shop with a Cop” events.
Does your department have a holiday tradition that we missed? Email us at editor@police1.com and we’ll add it to our list.
The Bradenton (Fla.) Police Department encouraged members of the community to #FillTheTruck this holiday season by purchasing an item from the department’s Amazon gift list.
https://www.facebook.com/BradentonPD/posts/454519140205343 https://twitter.com/blvlpolice/status/1601321443895037954?s=46&t=DNo6mVjzfZd53C4C82knIw https://twitter.com/rick1087rick/status/1595541621034065928?s=46&t=DNo6mVjzfZd53C4C82knIw https://twitter.com/bishoppolice_tx/status/1602047534821670915?s=46&t=DNo6mVjzfZd53C4C82knIw
The Chicopee (Mass.) Police Department hosted their annual “Stuff a Cruiser” toy drive with the help of Chicopee Public Schools. Items that were donated ranged from toy fire stations to stuffed animals.
The Richmond Heights (Ohio) Police Department hosted their “Fill a Cruiser” event to help community members in need on Thanksgiving. Many people donated cash, which was used to buy food items. Auxiliary Police Captain Mark Hoageson is seen here shopping at Dave’s Market to purchase food for the event.
Columbus (Ohio) police officers gave back by handing out 700 turkeys to families days before Thanksgiving this year.
https://twitter.com/littletonpd/status/1601731987412328450?s=46&t=DNo6mVjzfZd53C4C82knIw https://twitter.com/cityofankeny/status/1601666101158592514?s=46&t=DNo6mVjzfZd53C4C82knIw https://twitter.com/opelikapd/status/1601438691204902912?s=46&t=DNo6mVjzfZd53C4C82knIw
The Daytona Beach (Fla.) Police Department served 32 families with presents for their annual “Shop with a Cop” event with help from a variety of sponsors.
Newnan (Ga.) police officers were all smiles as they hosted their largest “Christmas with a Cop” event in department history, providing presents for 105 children.
Current and retired officers of the Norwood (Ohio) Police Department participated in the department’s annual “Shop With a Cop” event, giving 19 kids a brighter holiday season.
Members of the Springfield Police Department and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office in Massachusetts went shopping with 40 Springfield elementary school students, bringing along Santa for the ride.
https://www.facebook.com/forneypd.org/posts/528048486032333 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=525686902931346&set=a.230937865739586 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=520388250117454&id=100064388511172 https://twitter.com/CityofVeniceFL/status/1603432292608794627 https://twitter.com/Spring_ISD_PD/status/1602748571270496258 https://twitter.com/UCFPolice/status/1603791073188499457
The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School hosted a “Stuff a Cruiser” event for Thanksgiving, where four teams of medical students were divided into groups and paired with a police department from one of the four agencies that routinely are on campus: Massachusetts State Police, Shrewsbury Police, Worcester Police and UMASS Police. The teams competed to see how many goods they could gather for each cruiser.
The Worcester and Mass. State police truck teams weighed the cars at the beginning and end to determine the winner. The food was donated to Veterans Inc. (homeless shelter for veterans) and ‘Why Me & Sherrys House’ for sick kids.