Christmas Gift From Fellow Officers: Newtown Police Have Christmas Off

This Christmas season has made it difficult to be a police officer in Newtown, Connecticut. Connecticut’s combined officers have banded together to give them relief on Christmas day as a thanks for their hard work and dedication.

The plan has been kept quiet over the last few days to show solidarity among officers, and to quell the press.

Newtown Police Sergeant Steve Santucci confirmed this in an interview with The Atlantic Wire on Monday:

“They’ve been actually non-stop with their aid. It’s pretty amazing. And tomorrow, they’ll be at our assistance so that Newtown [officers] can be home with their families.”

Of course as we all know, one of the perks of working legal holidays is Overtime and Holiday Pay. However, the officers involved have gone so far as to make plans to donate their paychecks to Newtown and Sandy Hill Elementary school charities. Their point is that it’s not about the money. It’s good will toward men, a true spirit of Christmas.

The exact amount of donations is unknown at this point, as the paychecks are generated independently by each department involved, says Yahoo News.

Money aside, this is a most generous and heartwarming gift for a police department that has seen little more than horror and stress over the Sandy Hook shooting that left 26 dead.

Perhaps New York can use some of this holiday spirit as it deals with the ambush that has seen firefighters shot dead in the wake of the Hurricane Sandy devastation.

Yes, America is fighting hard to put some holiday cheer back into the Christmas season, and with the example set by the police departments across Connecticut, we may just make it happen.