South Roxana Police Department continually shows care for its community

SOUTH ROXANA - The South Roxana Police Department has teamed up with various organizations to make the holidays more special for area children.

South Roxana Police Chief Bob Coles reports his department donated over 50 toys to the South Roxana Dad’s Club for the Breakfast with Santa event this past Saturday.

In addition to the Dad’s Club donations, the police department joined forces with Teamsters Joint Council 13's Roy Gillespie to provide more gifts to children of the community. Thanks to the teamsters, the police department was able to hand out over 30 boxes filled with toys.

"We will also be teaming up with Shop with a Cop, which is organized by Brent Wells, an investigator with Simmons Hanly Conroy law firm," Coles said. "Brent does an amazing job each year helping needy families at Christmas.

"This police department has always taken pride in serving our community," continued Coles. "The relationship with the citizens is very important to me. The very nature of our job is to enforce the law in order to make this town a safer and better place to live."

A lot of times, whether it be through drugs or domestic violence encounters, the children are the ones caught in the middle between the police department and their parents. Having a child watch an officer arrest a parent and then be placed into handcuffs is something no child should have to witness, Coles said.

With the high rental property in South Roxana and the drug epidemic in everyone’s community, South Roxana is not alone with a large problem of drug abuse, Coles said.

"One thing I have always prided myself in with my department is that we treat everyone equal, regardless if you are someone who suffers with drug addiction, a doctor, or well-established member in our community," Coles said. "In my eyes, the addiction does not take away the fact the person is still someone’s daughter/son, parent, and or brother/ sister.

"With the heroin epidemic being what it is, unfortunately, the parent will spend their last dime on the drug before ensuring their child has a Christmas gift under the tree. This is where we can step in and let the people know we are all in this together. Whether we have to arrest someone or not, it does not take away from the fact we still care about their future. I still foster relationship with students I taught D.A.R.E. to in fifth grade and have graduated or still in high school," Coles said.

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