by Jaymi Firestone
“When you see the phrase, “Drive-by,” it isn’t usually associated with good news or happiness. It’s crime, heartbreak and often loss of lives. Portales’ Police Department changed the term for our community though. In fact, their drive-by was more joyous than most of what’s happened in all of 2020.
On Saturday, December 12th, the Portales Police Department participated in their annual Santa Cop event at the Portales Recreation Center. With COVID-19 numbers still on the rise, this year was a little bit different. Parents/Guardians were asked to drive by with their children to pick up toys and candy from the PPD.
Santa was present at the annual event, spreading only joy, no germs, as he waved to the cars filtering through the parking lot. After a long, but blessed day, our kindhearted police officers had handed out toys and candy bags. The Portales Woman’s Club was also on hand handing out cookies to all the kids. There were 358 kids that benefitted from Santa Cop!
Portales Police Chief, Chris Williams, said, “All of my officers worked to gather the toys, organize them by age and gender, and pass them out to the local community.” It is something he, and the other officers, look forward to every year, but even more so during a year that’s caused black clouds to linger.
Most normalcy has been taken from our kids this year, so as a community, it is important be grateful to our local police officers for providing some smiles and gifts to brighten the season for our children.
This year’s drive-by Santa Cop event provided joy to families and kids who may not have it otherwise.
The Roosevelt Review wants to extend a warm thank you to our Police Department for their efforts planning and executing this event. People like them make Portales a happy place to call home!”
