Veteran Peabody officer receives heartwarming note from stranger

PEABODY, Mass. — The Peabody Police Department posted a sweet story that involved one of its veteran officers.

The story starts with the officer explaining how they volunteered to detail at Market Street in Lynnfield Tuesday. No one else wanted to do it, probably because it is an outside mall and Tuesday’s temperature was around 20 degrees, not including the wind chills.

The officer explained their “obligation” felt to accept when called upon.

Market Street and Northshore Mall in Peabody take security seriously, the officer said, so they went off “to do the one thing that we do that can’t be measured – what we prevent.”

The officer explained walking around the mall 100 times in the freezing cold, wearing boots not made for walking, when on one loop, a woman and her son approached the officer. She handed over an envelope, said ‘thank you’ and kept walking.

The officer opened the envelope to find this note:

Dear Police Officer,

This is a note to thank you.
Thank you for risking your life every day for complete strangers.
Thank you for working days, nights, weekends, holidays, birthdays and countless other special occasions to keep us safe.
Thank you for continuing to do the job you were sworn to do despite all that is happening around you.
You are strong, you are brave, you are a hero.
You will always have my deepest appreciation, respect and support.

Sincerely,
Mary

The 37-year veteran officer said this was a first.

“I read it and suddenly I wasn’t so cold and my feet hurt much less.”

The note, such a small gesture, was a great boost of comfort and morale for the officer.

Cox Media Group