Policing During the Holidays

Serving the public during the holiday season provides us with many opportunities to bring a little holiday cheer into our community. Though we've been busy lately with such holiday gatherings (which has caused my blogging to lag just a bit), here are a couple of recent events we attended.

Thought we would share then with you to keep the holiday spirit alive going into the final shopping weekend before Christmas next week. Shopping - did I mention Lock It or Lose It when parking and leaving your car, if only for a few moments?

Cops and Christmas

Approximately 50 families received Christmas presents from the Lakeland Police Department's Community Services Unit during our annual Cops and Christmas party on Wednesday evening. The families were invited to the police station for some holiday cheer where they received toys for the children.

Santa Claus was on hand to keep the festive spirit going strong as everyone enjoyed some sandwiches and  interacted with Chief Roger Boatner and Assistant Chief Charles Thompson.

    

One cannot help but get in the holiday spirit when you see the faces of little children light up at these events. Our thanks to the Community Services Unit for organizing this event, arranging the food, and coordinating the purchase of gifts.

The Polar Express Tour Visits LPD

I also had the opportunity to host visiting students from Ms. Brekke's Grade 1B class at St. Paul's Lutheran School here in Lakeland as they arrived at the police station following a train ride symbolic of The Polar Express.

We gathered in a conference room where I read the book to the students seated around me. We imagined being part of the story of a little boy's magical journey to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Afterwards, we shared milk and cookies (chocolate chip, of course... mmm, my favorite).

The students presented me with a silver bell, representing the bell from Santa's sleigh in the story book. I cherish the thoughtful gift and will include the bell in my annual holiday decorations to remember this class.

And for the record - I still hear the bell.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere