Police Officers Roam the Streets in California Dressed as Santa Claus to Catch Looters

By Neil P. First Posted: Dec 14, 2020 05:15 AM EST

Police Officers dressed as Santa Claus and as an elf to catch the bad guys in a busy shopping center in Riverside, California.

(Photo : Youtube)
Video of police officers dressed as Santa Claus while arresting a theft.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

The global pandemic has forced many individuals to lose their source of living and income. This also forced many individuals to loot in different grocery stores just to survive. But this does not stop law enforcement officers to arrest these bad guys.

Santa's intervention

Police officers could have received different reports about people who have been stealing in a grocery store in a busy shopping center in Riverside, Florida.

But they might have problems to catch these bad guys. This could be the reason why they dressed as Santa Claus and elf.

According to Newsmax, Riverside Police Department undercover cop and detective caught in action three men in the process of stealing a Honda-CRV in a parking lot.

The incident happened last week, and the officers made arrest while they were dressed as Santa Claus and elf.

This Riverside Police Department posted the incident on their official Facebook page.

"Detectives with the Riverside Police Department's Property Crimes Unit, assisted by officers from the School Resource Officer Unit, conducted a holiday enforcement program that targeted retail theft at one of the busier shopping centers in Riverside."

According to the police department, they have witnessed an alarming increase in retail theft during the holiday season.

To prevent this, they developed the enforcement program dubbed as "Santa's Intervention" with hopes to catch the looters.

Video of Arrest Posted on YouTube

The video when they arrested the bad guys was posted on YouTube. It is a less than one-minute video where an elf-dressed officer ordered one of the suspects to get on his knees at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, the second suspect resisted arrest and that was the time that a police officer dressed in Santa Claus rushed over to help.

In the video, someone can be heard yelling "Get him Santa!" as the elf-dressed detective grabbed the suspect from behind and forced him on the ground.

They recorded the arrest to make sure that this will not cause another protest, most especially since the country is still in the process of recovering from issues against police brutalities.

According to the police officers, one of the suspects was identified and was later on released while the other one remained under their custody for the possession of illegal drugs and for resisting arrest.

Meanwhile, the third suspect managed to escape using an abandoned SUV and he was not immediately arrested.

New tactic yields many arrests

The police officers dressed as Santa Claus and elf were at the shopping center as part of their program to crack down on retail theft.

The operation was called "Santa Intervention." Instead of giving gifts, they were there to monitor and arrest persons doing illegal activities.

The police officers added that they arrested three people that included a woman, who allegedly walked out of the store with a cart full of merchandise.

Meanwhile, another man was also arrested after he was caught stealing expensive Lego sets worth $1,000.