Salinas police officer gives kids toys for Christmas

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Salinas Police Department Sergeant Gerry Magaña drove out to an East Salinas neighborhood in his patrol car to deliver toys and gifts to dozens of children on Christmas Day.

He says he has been doing this for over 10 years after he started on the police force in Salinas and saw there was a need to give back to the kids in the community.

"I got this idea back patrolling the streets on Christmas and seeing a lot of the kids in East Salinas weren't playing with toys on Christmas Day. I said 'where are your toys?' They said 'we don't have any,' so I made it a point for the following year to give out toys," Magaña said.

Magaña believes this interaction will break down barriers between the community and the police. He pays for the toys out of his own pocket as well as donations from the police department's records division and Monterey County dispatchers.

Magaña says he understands what it is like not to get toys for Christmas, so he says he wanted to make kids feel extra special on the holiday.

"When these kids grow up they won't remember my name. They won't remember me. But they'll remember a police officer in a patrol car would come on Christmas and give them toys, " Magaña said.