San Diego Police Bring Joy to Kids at Polinsky Children’s Center

Kids living at Polinsky Children’s Center received a special gift this holiday season. Members of the San Diego Police Department recently brought holiday gifts—one for each child individually, and several others for the center, such as sports balls, chalk and paint.

“We want to be more visible to the children at Polinsky, to help them not be afraid of the police,” said Capt. Brent Williams. “We set up a gifting tree at our department, with ornaments for kids in different age ranges. Officers could take an ornament, purchase the gifts and bring them back for our donation to Polinsky.”

The A.B. and Jessie Polinsky Children’s Center is a 24-hour facility for the temporary shelter of children who must be separated from their families for their own safety, or when parents cannot provide care. Each month more than 100 children ages birth to 17 are admitted to the center.

Many children living at the center will not be able to celebrate the holidays at home or with their families and the gifts allow the center to help provide as much normalcy as possible.

“This is a great opportunity for us to be a partner with Polinsky during these pandemic times to give a little back to our community,” said SDPD Lt. Dan Sayasane, as he helped haul Santa-sized sacks of toys onto the Polinsky campus.

The toy donation represents an ongoing commitment to Polinsky Children’s Center, not just a one-time holiday effort.

“This is a phenomenal group of officers that have had many positive interactions with our kids,” said Child Welfare Services Deputy Director Norma Rincon. “They came to the table and wanted to be a part of the solution to help our kids.”

Rincon said the department reached out to the facility to develop a partnership and foster positive relationships with the kids by coming on campus regularly and getting to know them.

The efforts appear to be succeeding. Rincon says the time the officers have put in to develop relationships and help support the kids has been invaluable. One child in particular wanted to make sure she was able to say goodbye to an officer who had formed a truly positive relationship with her during her stay at Polinsky, before she was placed in a foster home.