Police, trucking company team up to help community

Swift Transportation, Sumpter Township Police Department team up

SUMPTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Swift Transportation and the Sumpter Township Police Department teamed up to deliver boxes of goods to the community.

Before the partnership, some of the boxes that had some damage wouldn't always be accepted by customers.

"They [the boxes] would just sit, and we would have to get authorization of what to do with them," Denise Adkins, of Swift Transportation, said.

She decided to put the boxes to good use and contacted the Sumpter Township Police Department. The boxes sometimes have items like cereal, napkins, rice and toiletries, and the department puts them into bags to hand out to citizens.

"To help our community. Our community is very important to us at Swift," Adkins said.

The boxes now get donated to the police department, and they deliver them to the community.

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of families who are in that position and can't afford to put food on the table -- a lot of times, they're very surprised that we're there on a positive note to help them rather than write them a ticket or take them to jail," Officer Beth Egerer said.

Egerer said it's a difficult time to be a police officer, but they don't serve the community, because they want attention or brownie points.

"There's no ulterior motive. We just want to help the community and we've been doing that for a very long time," she said.

The department also delivers the goods to the WIC center and senior living facilities, as well as to anyone who is in need.

Sign up for ClickOnDetroit Email Newsletters (click here) for more stories like this.

"This is what I truly believe a police officer should be, a well-rounded person not only to protect and serve, but to serve the family, whether it's a bowl of cereal or some snacks," Egerer said.


About the Author:

Koco joined the Local 4 News team in September of 2016. She was born and raised in Metro Detroit, attended Central Michigan University, and previously worked at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids.