Merry Christmas! ZPD shares joys of season

Zebulon Police Department officers and Santa Claus recently performed ‘˜safety checks’ in the city and then visited with children and gave a cash gift to their parents. ’We stopped several cars and Santa gave the kids candy and their parents a gift too,’ said ZPD chief Jonathan Hemphill. ‘A couple of the stops got really emotional and you could tell they really needed what was given to them.’Yolanda Cruz was one of the people who was pulled over.’When I pulled over, an officer came up to me and said he was doing ‘safety checks’ and he asked for my license,’ said Cruz. ‘He went back to his truck and walked up with none other than Santa Claus himself. The kids were through the roof and Santa even slipped me some money. I plan to visit an Angel Tree and extend the blessing, but I wanted to share the pure joy and excitement our police department created today. Thank you. You are amazing!’In addition to the suprise safety stops, the ZPD put together a bicycle that was donated to them and delivered it with Santa to a family with two kids on Pine Street. ’We had a good time. We wanted to give back to the community and let people see the positive side of law enforcement,’ said Hemphill.