Arizona Department of Public Safety Officers once again distributed Christmas bears to hospitalized children this season.
Arizona Department of Public Safety Officers once again distributed Christmas bears to hospitalized children this season.
For the 14th year in a row, Arizona Department of Public Safety Officers handed out Christmas teddy bears to more than 2,500 children statewide who found themselves in the hospital during the holidays.
In the past 14 years, DPS officers have visited more than 15,000 kids who missed Christmas at home because they were in the hospital.
Sponsored by the Arizona Highway Patrolman Association, DPS officers are fanned out across the state during the week of Christmas, bringing joy to thousands of sick kids who can’t be home with their families at Christmas time.
The mission of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, one of the most dynamic state-level law enforcement agencies in the United States, is to protect human life and property by enforcing state laws, deterring criminal activity, assuring the safety of the motoring public on Arizona’s highways and providing vital scientific, technical and operational support to other criminal justice agencies.
The department, also one of Arizona’s largest law enforcement agencies with some 2,200 sworn and civilian employees, consists of four divisions: Highway Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Criminal Justice Support and Agency Support.
The department is headquartered in Phoenix and has offices located in more than 80 communities within Arizona’s 15 counties.
