Cst. Vera Murphy always wanted to be a police officer; she graduated from training on Sept. 10, 2009. Working out of Downtown Division, she’s experiencing her first Christmas as a sworn member.
“For me, one of the highlights of this Christmas is the fact that I got to deliver Santa’s Anonymous gifts for Blue Santa,” says Murphy. “The Blue Santa delivery was very meaningful because, as a single mom, I was once a Santa’s Anonymous recipient.”
Cst. Murphy and Cst. Lindsay Petersen delivered a number of gifts, but there is one delivery in particular that stands out. Apparently both Constables had to put a witness statement together a few months ago for a single mom with two children. The witness was impressed with both Constables, remarking that they were very nice and polite.
When it came time to deliver the gifts, this witness and her family were one of the first recipients.
“It was really nice to encounter this family again. It felt good to meet them under more positive circumstances,” noted Murphy.
Under the Blue Santa program, volunteer, uniformed Police Officers deliver Santa’s Anonymous gifts to needy households during their coffee breaks or slower periods in their regular shifts. Sgt. Robinder Gill and Gary Dreager (former Director of Santa’s Anonymous) came up with the idea over the course of a conversation 14 years ago.
Some Santa’s Anonymous volunteers, people who are unfamiliar with all of Edmonton’s neighbourhoods, find various districts to be somewhat intimidating. Police officers know all of Edmonton’s neighbourhoods, and they know that good people live in areas that, at first glance, might appear to be intimidating to someone who isn’t familiar with the community. So the Blue Santa program was born.
It made perfect sense that police officers could take on the heart-warming duty of delivering gifts in those areas.
“When you knock on a door, and you come face-to-face with people who you’ve encountered before, quite often in a crisis, it goes a long way to building positive interaction with police when you’re able to provide them with gifts,” said Gill. “The success of Blue Santa is the direct result of the EPS members who have chosen to participate in the program every year.”
There’s no question, Blue Santa provides police officers with a wonderful opportunity to foster positive relations with Edmontonians across the entire city.
Stats for 2009 haven’t been compiled yet, but in 2008 sworn members delivered 300 hampers – 300 needy families answered a knock on their door, and came face-to-face with the Christmas spirit in an EPS uniform.