KENNEWICK, Wash. – The Kennewick Police Department held a news conference today in partnership with the HAPO Community Credit Union, announcing a new community campaign.
Nicknamed the “Positive Policing Program”, the campaign aims to help residents of Kennewick through random acts of kindness.
The campaign is being kicked off with twenty $100 visa gift cards, given to people at random who display helpfulness in the community.
“It’s really outstanding that our foundation and HAPO able to partner on this,” said Commander Isaac Merkl, with the Kennewick Police Department.
This isn’t the first time that HAPO has partnered with local police departments, either. Last year, Stephanie Waechter, the Community Support Specialist at HAPO, had the opportunity to go out with officers and distribute gift cards.
“We went out, we found random people on the streets and made their day by giving them these gift cards… we were happy to be able to help out in any way we could,” said Waechter.
Chief Chris Guerrero with the Kennewick Police Department said that this is only the beginning, too. In the future, KPD hopes to deliver more rewards to community members through the Positive Policing Program.