By: Mary Grace Shaw

Last week Detective Rebecca Croxton received a special envelope in the mail. Inside the envelope she found 240 crosses for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. The crosses were made by Ariana, an eight-year-old girl who designed the crosses to protect law enforcement officials across the country.

Croxton says she noticed online that her law enforcement friends from other states were receiving crosses from Arianna, so she commented on a picture saying that she has not seen any crosses in Georgia. Arianna’s mother contacted Croxton on Facebook, and they organized a way to get the crosses to law enforcement officials in Athens.

“The perception of law enforcement is negative, so to have this eight year old girl hoping to protect us… it made me cry,” says Croxton. Croxton and some of the other law enforcement officials tuck the crosses into their bullet proof vests.

Croxton says “It makes me feel protected.”