ROME — Santa Claus had a little help answering letters in the City of Rome on Tuesday, with members of the Rome Police Department picking up the slack and visiting local children.

Officers with the Community Impact Unit dressed up a patrol car and donned some elf ears to visit about 50 children who wrote letters to Santa Claus and dropped them off at the police station, according to department spokesperson Lt. Sharon Rood. The department decorated an old mailbox to accept letters earlier this fall, and their officers visited 69 letter writers this month in total.

“It’s more about engaging with the children,” Rood explained. “They had a lot of fun with it.”

The visiting officers handed out trinkets to the children, as well as written responses from Santa Claus himself.

Rood said the idea came from the Community Impact Unit officers, whose duties involve community interactions and quality of life patrols.