Santa cops: Monterey police surprise residents with gift cards.

For the past two weeks the Monterey Police Department has not just handed out citations, but also $25 gift cards to unsuspecting people in Monterey. The gift cards for Target and Safeway were made possible through an anonymous $2,500 gift to the Monterey Police Officers Association, which supplied police with 100 cards to give out this holiday season.

“It’s a small town, and as police officers we get to know people in the community really well,” Officer Shasta Vanetti says. “We know who could use a little help this time of year.”

The Monterey Police have distributed gift cards throughout the city, often on calls when police meet people who are in need of holiday cheer. Officers have even handed out cards to people involved in traffic accidents, Vanetti says.

“We’re also giving cards to people in the community we feel deserve positive recognition,” Lt. Jeff Jackson says.

Vanetti is the police liaison for Gathering for Women, a local nonprofit that provides lunch and access to services for homeless women every Tuesday. She handed a Safeway gift card to one woman who knew exactly what she’d purchase – a rotisserie chicken. Another woman, a homeless mother of two, cried when she was handed two gift cards, saying she’d now be able to provide her children small gifts for Christmas.

“The person who donated doesn’t know how much this means to the police and the community alike,” Vanetti says. “I really hope we can do this again next year.”

Police say they have a few dozen gift cards left to hand out in the week before Christmas.