Maybe the Best Cop Christmas Story Ever: Watch

Working in tandem with the UPtv network, police officers pulled motorists over during a special two-day operation in November. (Screenshots, YouTube video)

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Police officers in a western Michigan community provoked unusual reactions among motorists they pulled over during a special holiday sting operation over two days in November:

Hugs. Tears. Surprise. Almost unspeakable gratitude.

Instead of tickets, about 50 motorists pulled over in late November received gifts that were on their holiday shopping lists, WWZM-TV and WOOD-TV report.

The holiday cheer caper was organized by UPtv, a Christian cable television network. Rob Bliss, one of the producers, approached the Lowell Police Department in Kent County to see if they’d play along as part of the network’s Uplift Someone Christmas challenge.

Lowell Police Chief Steve Bukala said in the video: “Most of the contact the police officers have with the general public is on a traffic stop and you can find a lot out about that person in that 10 to 15 minute window, whether they’re having a good day, a bad day, or a horrible day. And then we got this idea: what if we could change that person’s day in real time? What if we could change that person’s day right now?”

The police department pulled motorists over for small infractions that normally wouldn’t warrant a traffic stop.

While the officers chatted with the drivers about this and that, including gifts they planned to buy, the UP-TV team listened in on a radio from a nearby Meijer store, bought the items and delivered them.

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Salvador Galeno told WOOD-TV that he was confused by the stop because he wasn’t driving over the speed limit, and was even more confused when the officer questioned him about his kids’ request for an XBox One gaming system.

“Yeah, but they’re not going to have it,” he said.

Galeno waited about 15 minutes for the officer to write him a ticket. Instead of a citation that would cost him money, he received the gaming system that will brighten his kids’ Christmas. Because money is tight in the family, they were going to get only practical gifts.

The scene was repeated dozens of times over the two days. UPtv paid for the gifts, which collectively sold for about $7,000. None of the motorists was issued a ticket.

“I’ve been pulled over by police officers before and they’ve always been good to me,” one of the gift recipients said, “but never this good.”

The recipients and strangers from around the world are showing their gratitude on the Lowell Police Department Facebook page.

Lowell Officer Scot VanSokema said he was nervous about the stunt because “ordinarily, people don’t like getting pulled over by the police.” But he and other officers were won over by the expressions of gratitude.

“You can see in the video there were a lot of hugs,” another police officer, Detective Gordy Lauren, said. “One guy was headed to the east side of the state to see his kids. … He actually started crying.”

Lauren said the stunt was perfectly timed, because of the holiday season, but also because “right now, there’s a lot of negativity in the news regarding police.”

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