NJ community shows police appreciation in wake of Dallas shootings

Pequannock police say that members of the community have been stopping by the police station to drop off cards, cookies and even invites to dinner in the wake of the Dallas sniper shootings.  The officers

News 12 Staff

Jul 12, 2016, 4:41 AM

Updated 2,982 days ago

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Pequannock police say that members of the community have been stopping by the police station to drop off cards, cookies and even invites to dinner in the wake of the Dallas sniper shootings. 
The officers even received a visit from a new mom.
"It was hot on Friday and she parked out back and she was wrestling with the stroller, with the diaper bag, both kids and she was coming in with this homemade baked thing," says Capt. Christopher DePuyt.
Police departments statewide, including Franklin, Bound Brook, West Windsor and Manchester, say that people have reached out to them to show their appreciation.
"It helps out tremendously because you turn the TV on, seems like every channel, especially this weekend, was all negative toward the police," says Pequannock Patrolman Daniel Caffery.
News 12 New Jersey reached out to some of the police departments in the state's more urban areas like Paterson, Englewood and Hackensack and the departments said they weren't seeing as much tokens of appreciation as some other communities.
Some residents in those communities tell News 12 New Jersey that they didn't have any problems with police officers, but that they weren't quite ready to call them friends.
"When I need help, when I call, they will help me out, so I don't have any problems with them," says Paterson resident Alicia Addison.
Addison does say that she thinks that there needs to be more community policing in her neighborhood.
"I found out from early in my career, if you treated people right, you had no problem," says retired Paterson Police Officer Richard Fletcher. "They knew I wasn't going to call them names, I wasn't going to put anything on them. They knew I wasn't going to beat on them."
The New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association is sending a trailer to Dallas filled with food and other items to support the families of the five officers who were killed.