For the second year in a row, Santa Claus asked the Seal Beach Police Department to help him deliver holiday gifts to families in need.
On Wednesday, Dec. 28, the Seal Beach Police Department’s Community-Oriented Policing Team visited several Seal Beach families to participate in the second annual “Santa Cop” holiday season community outreach event. In partnership with Target, the SBPD, and West Cities Police Communications, officers and dispatch personnel visited several families who needed a little extra holiday cheer this year. The Seal Beach Police Department asked the community to anonymously nominate families who were struggling or had fallen on hard times. Several community members wrote in and six Seal Beach families were nominated and chosen to receive donations.
More than $2,000 in donations were raised for Santa Cop. The money was spent on purchasing gifts and toys. These funds were donated by:
• The Seal Beach Target store,
• The Seal Beach Police Officers’ Association and the Seal Beach Police Management Association,
• The West Cities Police Communications Employee Association,
• and a generous donation of $450 from an anonymous donor.
After the gifts were purchased they were wrapped, transported, and presented to the families by the Seal Beach Police and West Cities Communications employees, and Santa Claus himself! In addition to toys and other gifts, the families were donated a grocery store gift card. “It was a wonderful experience being able to give back to the community,” said Community-Oriented Policing Team Officer Victor Ruiz. “It is a testament to the closeness of Seal Beach that community members would nominate their friends and neighbors. We thank the anonymous donor who contributed $450 to this cause.”
Santa Claus has asked the Seal Beach Police Department to continue this event next year. To learn more about the ways the Seal Beach Police Department helps to keep our community safe, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @sealbeachpolice.
