Chief Arthur Lawson and the Gretna Police Department (GPD) offer residents in “our small town with the big heart” a rock solid feeling of being safe. Our men in blue go to the limit each and every day for us and there are ways that residents can do their part to help prevent crime and make law enforcement’s job easier.

Before we get into the ways that Melvin the Elf, who has arrived in  town recently does his part to assist the Gretna Police, let’s see what we can do to help.

As a start, the Chief would like to remind everyone to please lock their vehicles!

The word out of GPD is, “The metropolitan area is experiencing a high volume of vehicle burglaries and so is the city of Gretna, but 99% of the vehicle burglaries in our city are due to unlocked access. People need to be more vigilant and lock their cars and also not leave items of value such as purses/wallets, laptops, firearms, money, etcetera visible.

“Gretna is one of Louisiana’s safest communities, but that does not stop criminals from testing us every day. The holiday season always brings added challenges. Here’s how you can help!”

  • Stop the Smash and Grab! Don’t leave packages and /or valuables in plain sight, keep your car locked at all times and park in well-lit areas.
  • Secure Your Home Whenever You Are Away! Keep all doors locked, place lights on timers to create the appearance of activity, consider asking a neighbor to park in your driveway, ask a friend or family member to pick up all mail and the daily newspaper, do NOT share any information on social media that would indicate you are away from home, do not leave gifts or packages in plain sight, try to arrange package deliveries for when you are home and, if you are away for an extended time, you may request that the GPD occasionally check on your property. 
  • Shop Smart! Always be mindful of your surroundings, if possible shop with friends or family because there is safety in numbers and never let your cell phone become a distraction. When returning to your car, have keys in hand, get in quickly and lock your doors.
  • If shopping online, only use trusted websites and look for the locked padlock icon when shopping online, the “s” in https means secure. Credit cards are more secure than debit cards when online shopping. Monitor your credit or checking statements regularly and report any appearance of fraudulent charges.

Now, who is this Melvin? Melvin is the Gretna Police Elf that was created in 2015 as a collaboration between Chief Lawson and Ben Gravolet, VP with Touchpoints Marketing and Advertising. Melvin is a means of reaching out to the community, especially the children, to bring joy at the holidays and make them understand that police officers are approachable and a positive force in the community. Melvin’s visit to Gretna usually begins a couple of weeks before Christmas and his holiday adventure always culminates on Christmas Eve.

Melvin the Elf appears on Facebook and is highly popular. Melvin posts reach between 25,000 – 30,000 people. You can go back to day one and follow the complete story at by clicking here.  

In 2015, his first year, Melvin was sent to Gretna from the North Pole Police Department to train. He was quite mischievous at first, but with good training he was quickly turned into a model officer. Every year since he has returned at Christmas time to help the Chief solve a mystery. Melvin showed up for training a bit of a prankster. He sat in the Chief’s chair and crossed the Chief’s name off of his card and wrote in his own name!

In 2016 to help Melvin investigate and let everyone know he was on the case, Chief Lawson officially made Melvin an officer and awarded him a special elf-sized badge GPD Badge to wear on his leather jacket. Careful not to touch Melvin, the Chief let him pin the badge on himself.

In 2017, Melvin helped Mayor Belinda Constant find Gabriel, the missing Gingerbread Man from the City of Gretna Christmas tree.

In 2018, Officer Effron wasn’t convinced Melvin had the best method for looking for clues, he often displayed a short attention span.

Last year, in 2019, Melvin returned to Gretna to propose to his girlfriend, Holly and her ring was stolen. It became the case of the year to find Holly’s missing engagement ring before their wedding. No one was sure Melvin had the best method to search out clues, but success! The ring was found and Chief Lawson walked Holly down the aisle.

This year, called by the Chief on his super secret Zoom code, Melvin has returned to Gretna to help the Chief put the Merry back in Christmas that was stolen by the evil criminal COVID-19…

Walking through the streets of Gretna, Melvin sees activity but notices that something is missing. “The joy of the children…where is that?” he says. He stops at a playground and doesn’t see anyone! Sad.

The Gretna Police Department believes in Santa Claus and wants everyone to experience the joy of Christmas in a happy, safe way. As to the pandemic, Chief Lawson said as he pointed to a poster of COVID-19,

“This one is so bad and so hard to apprehend because we can’t see it. Many of the usual Christmas festivities won’t be happening because of it.” Melvin watched closely. “Let’s take you to the Crime Lab to show you more,” the Chief said.

Off they went and everyone awaits the final chapter of Melvin the Elf’s 2020 experience in Gretna. Like us, you will have to go to GPD Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/gretnapd on Christmas Eve to see if Melvin can solve this, as yet, an unsolvable crime!

Ben Gravelot did an excellent job when he created Melvin!

Touchpoints Marketing and Advertising is an advertising and marketing agency located at 629 2nd St. in Gretna that does business around the country. (https://www.touchpointsmarketing.net/) They work primarily in hospitality, casino and automotive, their specialties are branding and brand Design, marketing strategy and research, social media and reputation management, video and TV production, website development, SEO and paid search, media planning and buying, direct mail and email marketing and print design and production.

The GretnaGlance.com blog staff wishes all of you a very Merry Christmas!

###

Have a story you’d like to share? Contact me here.