Carol Donnelly is the founder of COPS (Citizens, Offering, Police Support), an organization set out to say “thank you” to police officers for putting their life on the line.
This “little thank you” has now turned into over a thousand gratitude packets and countless tokens of appreciation for the men and women who protect and serve our communities day and night.
“Community support is the mission of COPS,” Donnelly said. “We may never really know how important it is to touch a life in the most positive way.”
It is because of her continued support to the police departments all over that she wants to bring awareness to those close to home. With the world we live in today Donnelly wants to more people to recognize the work and commitment that is done by the local communities individual police departments.
In 2016 the violent crime rate for the City of San Bernardino was at 2,876 according to the San Bernardino Police Department website. One year later in 2017 that number dropped down to 2,806. While it may not seem like much of a difference, San Bernardino is a large city and any decrease in crime is a success.
At this time, their website states that there are 225 officers sworn. These officers patrol the city of San Bernardino day in and day out trying their best to uphold peace and keep their community safe.
Donnelly now goes around to the San Bernardino officers offering them her tokens of gratitude. She wants the officers to know that there are people who support them and are praying for them every day.
In previous years there were restaurants that would throw a special lunch for the community. This lunch would allow the officers from SBPD to come and serve lunch to the community members so that they can show support to one another and socialize with everyone. Sadly, this type of social event has phased out and is no longer being done. Events such as this would raise the spirits of not only the community but also the SBPD allowing everyone to connect with one another.
Donnelly hopes that by getting the word out about the COPS organization and by showing continued support to the SBPD these types of events can begin to happen again. The SBPD helps it's civilians when they can and Donnelly wants to make sure that their community helps them in return. Whether, it is putting on these lunch events or something as simple as handing out her “thank you citations.”