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Police Officers In Florida Panhandle Rewarding Kindness With Gift Cards

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PENSACOLA (CBSMiami/AP) — Crime doesn't pay, but sometimes doing the right thing does.

"Operation Police Navidad" is underway in Pensacola, where police officers are handing out $50 gift cards to people they see doing good deeds.

Police spokesman Mike Wood says there are already examples of the kind of good cheer officers are looking for: someone helping an elderly person get into a car, motorists waiting patiently for pedestrians to cross streets and parking lots and shoppers who unloaded their groceries and trekked across the parking lot to return a shopping cart.

Wood tells the Pensacola News Journal police officers are "always stopping people for doing something wrong," but during the holiday season they want to stop them "for doing something right."

The department has about 60 gift cards to exchange for random acts of kindness.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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