The police officers of Newtown, Connecticut received a gift from their colleagues in towns and municipalities across the state on Christmas Day. All of the officers in the town still grieving from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were given the day off to be with their family and friends.
“Patrol officers and sworn personnel will be given the day off to be home on Christmas. Officers from surrounding towns will be patrolling Newtown,” police Sgt. Steve Santucci of Newtown told CNN.
Officers from Newtown have been working without a break since the shooting took place on Friday, December 14 that took the lives of 20 children and six adults at the school.
“When something like this happens … it’s a police thing. We’ll always try to help out neighboring towns. Any time there’s a tragedy, we’ll try our best to lend a helping hand,” said Lt. Bob Kozlowsky of the Shelton, Connecticut, police department.
The Shelton Police Department is one of the departments helping the Newtown officers take the day to be with family and has been involved with the Newtown officers since the shooting.
“We’ve sent officers, dispatchers, and even our chief of police has gone to Newtown to help out. We’ve helped with dispatching, traffic, miscellaneous calls. Our chief of police has gone to assist their chief of police with administrative duties.”
Other towns that sent officers to help Newtown officers take the day off include the towns of Monroe, Brookfield, Danbury, Bethel and Milford.
Officers from those towns patrolled the streets of Newtown on Christmas Day so the officers of the grieving town could be with families and attempt to celebrate a holiday amidst such incredibly tragedy and grief.
“It’s important to help out,” said Officer Jeffrey Nielsen of the Milford police department. “We’ll continue to provide help as long as they need it.”