River Rouge Police Hand Out Gas Gift Cards Instead of Tickets in Holiday Initiative
The city launched Operation Give Back for the first time, with Mayor William Campbell working alongside the public safety department to distribute 30 cards before the holidays.
River Rouge police pulled over dozens of drivers Monday night. However, they didn't write tickets. Instead, officers gave out $25 gas gift cards. The city launched Operation Give Back for the first time, with Mayor William Campbell working alongside the public safety department to distribute 30 cards before the holidays.
"They'll feel like they're getting a ticket and instead of giving them a ticket, we'll give them a gas card in our community," Campbell said. "(It's) just a small token of our appreciation to them."
Body camera footage captured what happened. Officers walked up to vehicles with flashing lights before revealing the actual reason for the traffic stops.
"You did nothing wrong. Today, we're giving cards away for $25 gift cards," Detective Joshua Smith told a driver during one stop.
Sotirios Arapakis, interim director of public safety, said this program holds personal meaning for him. "It's important to me because I grew up here in the city of River Rouge. I do believe you should give back to the community you work for, let alone having the privilege to serve the community I grew up in," Arapakis said.
Maurice Cooper-Johnson of River Rouge was among those stopped. "I'm a little surprised right now. I was like dang, what could I have done? I don't know what I did," Cooper-Johnson said.
Marquetta Copland, an Uber driver from Detroit who was completing a ride, feared the worst when officers pulled her over. She thought she was in trouble. "My heart was beating because I was taken aback a little bit because I said, that's not for me because I did nothing wrong," Copland said.
Jeanie Jaggers said the card came at a meaningful time. She plans to use it to visit family during the holidays. "This helps me a lot because I'm on disability, so I'm going to use this for my gas that I really need to go see my grand kids this weekend," Jaggers said.
Several officers and the mayor put in their own money to fund the giveaway. City officials said they hope to repeat this program next year.
