Thanks from the Golden State

A heartwarming story came full circle today. Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania returned from a trip to California where he had a chance to meet up with some big fans.
They say a simple thank you can go a long way. In this particular instance, it made a trip from California to right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Four-year-old twins Courtney and Nolan Learch sent out a letter thanking police for their service in all 50 states and one found its way to the Gulfport Police Department. Police Chief Leonard Papania said, “I took out a piece of stationary and I was gonna go ahead and write them a note back and when I was getting ready to address the envelope I looked and saw San Diego on there. I thought ‘well I’m gonna be there next week.’ When I had contacted them, they had only heard from a police department in Alaska. Since then they’ve had a few others contact, but nobody has yet to beat us on showing up.”
That’s right, like a true police officer, Chief Papania went above and beyond to pay the family a personal visit to show his appreciation. “We had a really good visit, got to meet both of the children. They were excited to get the items that we brought, little badges for kids to wear. They were excited. You can see in some of the pictures they put the hats on right away. It’s neat to know your city is known somewhere else and it was just a good time, a good personal time and I think we spread Gulfport a little further out,” said Chief Papania.
What is it about Chief Papania’s views on law enforcement that instills the community first approach within his police department? “We’re keeping it personal here. I think we’re keeping it personal in a good way. I think you get there through communication and ultimately you establish trust. We all need to do a little bit better, but it’s worth it in the end because we all want the same out of life. You know, it’s neat to know that we now have friends in San Diego and we’ve got big fans of the Gulfport Police Department over there.”