BY KELLIE PALMER
The holidays are upon us. Everyone is out and about shopping for that perfect gift for their loved ones. While we all might be feeling extra festive or even more stressed this time of year we can’t forget that we need to be extra careful! This time of the year not only brings out families, shoppers, and carolers, it also brings out more criminals. That’s why the Fresno Police Depart- ment came up with Operation Christmas Presence to minimize holiday crimes where large number of citizens do their holiday shopping. Operation Christmas Presence was started around 12 years ago—and the FPD has seen a dramatic decrease in vehicle burglary and robbery reports. The project kicked off the day after Thanksgiving when people really started shopping, and runs through Christmas Eve. More than 200 officers, civilian personnel and volunteers from
Fresno Police Department (uniformed and plain-clothes officers), Traffic Enforcement Unit, Bicycle Officers, Skywatch, Mounted Unit,
Police Cadets, and Reserves & Citizens on Patrol go to high traffic shop- ping centers throughout the city of Fresno and keep a look-out by foot, bicycle or through the business’ outside cameras. River Park, Manchester, Fashion Fair, Fulton Mall, the West Shaw area, and some Wal-Marts are patrolled. The Fresno Police Department encourages everyone to keep a look out and report any suspicious activ- ity while shopping. Watch out for cars circling the parking lot and not going into a space or people looking into cars.
The police department also recommends prevention measures, which include: always keeping bags of purchased gifts in your trunk, not in open view to tempt someone to break into your car; shopping with a friend or family member; and shopping during the day. If that isn’t possible, ask a security guard to walk you out to your car if you don’t feel safe. There are plenty of ways to keep yourself safe. Even so, you can rest assured that while you are out shopping there are plenty of officers or volunteers keeping their eyes open for any criminal activity and keeping you safe!
