POUGHKEEPSIE – City of Poughkeepsie police officers gave Santa Claus a tour of the city on Saturday to make sure the city’s youth are on good behavior before the official visit on Christmas Eve. Santa toured several of the city’s housing complexes and grabbed some coffee at 7-11 before heading back to the North Pole.
The officers and Santa were together for the second day of holiday activities initiated by the PBA, the union that represents the police officers. On Friday night, the PBA and the city’s firefighters teamed up to create a Winter Wonderland at the Public Safety Building on Main Street.
Santa and his badge-wearing elves made several stops to hand out candy canes and small gifts for children they encountered along the route of the Candy Cane Express.
With a police escort blaring the sirens and flashing their lights, Santa arrived at Eastman Terrace on Montgomery Street where a young girl came rushing out, escorted by a family member to greet Santa while other children waived from the windows above.
“This is just one way our officers try to interact with the city we serve,” said PBA President Kevin VanWagner. “We work here and we try to build relationships with the residents at every opportunity. Our officers just want to bring a little holiday cheer to those who may need it.”
One officer noted that not one elected official from the city attended the Winter Wonderland or Saturday’s Candy Cane Express. The PBA presented a Memorandum of Understanding to the council in May of this year as part of the retention program designed to keep the current officers and attract new ones to make up for the dwindling number of existing officers. As of Saturday, the council has indicated, by not addressing the proposal, that no gift-wrapped agreements for the cops will arrive before Christmas.
