An 8-year-old girl in Illinois is lifting the spirits of police offers all over the U.S. with packages of crosses. The latest package landed with the Chula Vista Police Department in California.
“I was really kind of taken aback by it,” exclaimed Chula Vista Police Captain Roxana Kennedy.
The bag contained 225 plastic crosses for each officer in the department.
Arianna Nichols From St. Jacob, IL, began the project in September.
“I made crosses to spread God’s word is peace kindness love joy patience hope and faith,” she explained.
She has made 4,332 crosses for the good guys in blue in 24 states.
“I just want to take care of them,” she said. “I wanted to spread God’s word and protect others.”
The thoughtful gesture moved Kennedy and her force.
“I saw men who are 250-pounds, big tall officers, that got choked up,” said Kennedy.
Many officers placed the crosses “in their Kevlar vests, near a metal plate that protects their heart.” Others put them in chest pockets or their wallets.
The Brooklyn Police Department received a package of crosses. Police Chief Calvin Hammond and his police officers enjoyed the thought as much as the Chula Vista officers.
“People still do care about police officers and their safety,” he said. “For a kid to do something like that should give adults a chance to do the same.”
Each package contains this handwritten note from Nichols:
Hello, my name is Arianna. I am 8 years old. I make crosses to spread God’s word. God’s word is peace, kindness, love, joy, patience, hope and faith. I am also Catholic and religious and loving and caring. I am a very happy girl. I hope my crosses inspire people to pray and love Jesus. I also hope my crosses protect you. Love, Arianna.
Police departments across the country continue to receive negative and hateful coverage from the mainstream media, but stories like Nichols’s show the little reach the media actually has. On Wednesday, Julie Armstrong in Virginia posted a photo of a state trooper saluting a fallen member of law enforcement. She praised the officer for his actions. The Virginia State Police reposted the photo, which garnered thousands of likes and positive comments.
Al Sharpton was scheduled to attend and deliver the eulogy at the funeral of fallen NYPD officer Randolph Holder. He pulled out at the last minute and blamed police officials. However, Holder’s fiancé slammed the idea of the reverend speaking at the funeral since the officer never liked Sharpton.
That attitude seems widespread among cops. Pat Lynch, head of the NYPD’s union, said “Al Sharpton has always been one of the chief extremists fanning the flames of anti-police sentiment for his own gain. Police officers need real support from our elected officials and the communities we serve, not empty gestures from attention-seekers.”
Even FBI director James Comey—despite White House opposition—is pushing back at the progressives’s campaign. The [nation’s] crime rate is rising, and “part of the explanation is a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement over the last year,” Comey said Oct. 26.
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