Posted: 12/21/2008 3:39:29 PM EDT
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http://www.gazette.com/articles/cops_45177___article.html/monument_santa.html
Cops have Santa's back Comments 2 | Recommend 1 December 20, 2008 - 3:21 PM ANDREA BROWN THE GAZETTE MONUMENT• With a frenzy of flashing lights and blaring sirens, a fleet of police cars, a SWAT truck and a fire truck rumbled the streets Saturday morning. Startled motorists in this quiet bedroom community quickly pulled over to let the emergency convoy through. The caravan stormed into a modest mobile home park on the edge of town. The clamor jolted residents outside in the snow-flurried cold, their coats flung hastily over pajamas. Six-year-old Savanna Harvey was among one of the first at the scene. Monument police chief Jacob Shirk handed her a snazzy new Barbie doll. “Thanks, Santa,” she said. Every year, Shirk dons a fuzzy red uniform instead of his dark blues. He pretends his cruiser is a sleigh and the red lights are Rudolph’s nose. He takes the Santa oath and swears in officers as elves to help distribute new toys donated by the public. “We have more this year than we ever had,” he said of the loot piled in the vehicles that normally hold weapons and emergency gear. This year, 14 volunteer elves assisted when kids swarmed Santa at stops in lower-income neighborhoods around town. All residents are invited to partake — and are also warned in advance so they won’t freak out when the Santa patrol arrives. “We really appreciate this,” said Savanna’s sister Breanna, 16, who got a McDonald’s gift card from Mrs. Claus, also known as Shirk’s wife Vanessa. While Saturday might have been the perfect time to commit a crime in Monument, naughty acts were far from Shirk’s mind. His Santa alter ego started when he was on the Aurora police force. “There were death threats against Santa in the Aurora/Denver metro area in 1993,” he said. “Some of the malls started pulling their Santas. That made me so angry that I said, ‘No, this isn’t going to happen.’ I volunteered to be Santa.” The Santa patrol came with him in 2005 after he became Monument police chief. “Some of these kids aren’t going to have much of a Christmas and we helped brighten that day,” said elf Tonya Dixon, a police records technician. It’s anything but a routine call for officers. “I prefer this one over any other,” officer Joseph Lundy said. “It’s good the public can meet us under these circumstances.” It was good for Sergio Chavez, 10, who got a remote control truck. “It is cool and I like Fords,” the boy said. “They are like my favorite truck.” |
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Toy drive here in AZ didn't go so well today....
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