Kensington police pull over drivers, give candy canes

Drivers in Kensington may have been expecting a ticket on Tuesday when they were pulled over by local police officers.

But instead of getting a ticket, theyreceived a candy cane.

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"No one likes to see the lights in the back of [their] car. But once we told them what our motive was to give them a candy cane it sort of put a little smile on their face," explainedConst. Robb Hartlen of the Kensington Police Service.

Besides putting a smile on someone's face and help lighten the stressful holiday season,Hartlen sees the candy cane initiative as a way to try and build better community relations and improve community policing.

"If you can't approach police officers with something good or something happy or if you can't associate policing with a smile or with a candy cane, then maybe the policing industry is doing something wrong. So, let's work on changing that,"he said.

"Under the badge [and] under the uniform, we live in the Town of Kensington. We are your neighbours. We shop at your stores. We have a chat with you at the coffee shop When we work together and, collectively, are striving for that same outcome, then everybody wins."

A reminder to drive safe

Hartlen and his colleague Const. Kyle Theriault were in charge of handing out 132 candy canes on Tuesday between 12:30 p.m. and around 4 p.m. The candy canes also came with a note reminding people to drive safe or have a happy holiday season.

For the officers, it gave them a chance to meet and connect with people in the community. Hartlen said they tried to be quick telling drivers what they were doing and handing over candy canes.

He recalled one driver telling him she was late for a dentist appointment, so Hartlendidn't hold her up further.

"Ironically giving [her] candy on her way to the dentist,"he pointed out.

No candy for rule-breakers

Hartlenaddedthat anyone pulled over for a violation didn't receive a candy cane.

Hartlen shot a video of the police stops on his iPhone, which was posted on the police service's Facebook page. As a way to grab people's attention, he said the video resembles a movie trailer.

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