Minnesota Asian Peace Officer Association gives back to those they serve

Police from the Minnesota Asian Peace Officer Association gave back with some holiday cheer in St. Paul Saturday.

While on calls for service, officers met families in need. They loaded up their cars with gifts to make Christmas a little brighter for those families.

The annual event is an outreach effort to connect with the community.

"We want to reach out to the community period from our association and bridge that gap to sort of build the trust and sort of, you know, explain to them that we’re also human beings at the same time," Pheng Xiong, the association’s president, said.

The association has been doing this every year since 2009. This year, the gifts were funded by a "Pho"-raiser.

More than 200 officers from all types of law enforcement agencies across the state are a part of the group.