Local police chief creates contest to bridge dept. and community, now an annual event

CRESCENT CITY, Calif. (KIEM)-An event intended to connect the police department with their community has now become an annual event – and coincidentally in theme with state and county Covid-19 guidelines. 

Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin says, the idea to create a pumpkin carving contest came about after he saw the joy on his kids face when his family came together to make their own jack-o-lantern’s.

“I just kind of got the idea to connect with the community, you know, get parents with their kids, because everybody does it,” he said. “So, I just posted my pumpkins that we did at home, and whoever gets the post likes, I’ll give you a bag of candy.”

Last year’s winner – grew and carved a nearly 300 pound gourd.

Participants can add their pic of their master pieces to Crescent City Police’s Facebook Page under the original post, which can be found by clicking here.

With the state of the country and the public perception on law enforcement, Griffin says, building a positive relation between his department and community members has been his goal the day he was sworn, last October.

“It was a really good thing to connect, you know with the community because cops are people too, this type thing is what I was looking at, and we started really trying to hit home connecting on Facebook,” he said.

The contest runs until October 29^th, to allow for the winner to collect their candy bounty before Halloween.

The event created such a buzz, Griffin says the prize went up to two bags of sweet treats.