A New Bedford police officer who helped spread holiday good-tidings was honored for his selfless actions Thursday at New Bedford Police Headquarters.

Officer Jason Viera, a 17-year veteran on the department, responded to a call regarding a package of meat and shrimp was stolen from the doorstep of an 82-year-old woman in the south end. The woman, told Viera the contents were for a special dinner for her and her son.

Viera returned the next day with a police report number as well as a Stop & Shop gift card. He said it's just part of the job.

"This is something that we do," Viera said. "It may not be in the form of a gift card or whatever but I work for a department that goes beyond in a great way."

Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro echoed this sentiment by saying things like this aren't rare throughout his department.

"These acts of kindness and charity and good sense of empathy happens all the time for our men and women but doesn't always surface because we don't know about it, it goes under our radar," Cordeiro said before presenting Viera with a citation from the department.

Viera's actions would have also gone unnoticed if not for the Facebook post by Samantha Laubenstein, the woman's granddaughter.

Last week my husbands 82 year old grandmother had a package she ordered from QVC stolen from her front porch that had steaks and shrimp in it, QVC told her she needed to file a police report and then they would be able to refund her. She called her local New Bedford police station, station 2, and officer Vieira took a report. She told him she was disappointed because she and her son were looking forward to a steak and shrimp dinner. Officer Vieira told her he would come by her house the next day and leave the report number in her mail slot. The next day she goes to the mail slot and there was an envelope. Inside was the police report number and a little note that says I hope you and your son can enjoy your steak dinner, this came along with a gift card to stop and shop. I wanted to share this story because police get such a bad rap and you only ever hear about the negative never the positive. Officer vieira did not have to do that for her but out of the kindness of his heart he did. Thank you so much officer Vieira from station 2, this gesture touched my heart and hers as well, he did this out of kindness and with no expectation.

 

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