We've heard nothing over the past few months about cops but bad cops, dumb cops, and sometimes just plain evil cops. So when police officers are this incredibly good to the people they serve it is nothing short of absolutely heart-meltingly wonderful.
One of the worst things in the world, as a driver, is to get pulled over. You never know how it's going to go, how much it's going to cost you, or what sort of headache it will bring. The stress of the stop itself can be worse than the actual fine. And all of that is ratcheted up during the holiday season, especially when people are just scraping by enough to get their kids something nice, and now they'll have to spend the money on a ticket instead.
Knowing all that, police in Lowell, Michigan decided they were going to hand out much, MUCH better Christmas gifts than traffic tickets. Specifically, they were going to hand out pretty much whatever drivers wanted.
In the course of the routine stop, cops would ask the drivers what they were looking to buy over the next few weeks. They then radioed a team in the local Meijer, according to WZZM, the local ABC affiliate, who snagged the gifts (and even got some of them wrapped, verrrrrry impressive) before the stop was over:
Chief Bukala says officers pulled over 50 drivers for the video and handed out about 30 presents, totaling about $7,000. The most expensive was a laptop computer and a Xbox gaming system, and the most modest was a curling iron.
UPtv, a local Christian television network, paid for the gifts, and the video was put together by a marketing agency. And sure, knowing how your Christmas Cop Video sausage was made might make you a cynic, but then also you're a jerk because this harms no one and a bunch of people have new presents this year.
Jerk.
No one was issued a ticket, either, but I really do like how the cop still offered to hand some out. Guy's dedicated to his craft.