Police in Newtown enjoy a rare holiday for Christmas

Thanks to efforts by their fellow law enforcement officers in nearby towns like Monroe, Brookfield, Danbury, Bethel and Milford, police officers in Newtown enjoyed a holiday on December 25, ten days after the second worst school shooting incident in the United States.

Patrol officers and sworn personnel were given the day off to be home on Christmas while officers from surrounding towns patrolled Newtown, police Sergent Steve Santucci of Newtown said.

Newtown police have been working nonstop since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. The school shooting claimed the lives of 20 children and six faculty members, leaving a close-knit community -- and its police force -- still reeling 10 days later.

"When something like this happens ... It's a police thing. We'll always try to help out neighbouring towns. Any time there's a tragedy, we'll try our best to lend a helping hand," said Lt. Bob Kozlowsky of the Shelton, Connecticut, police department.

Kozlowsky's department is among those that have helped in the Newtown force in the days since the shooting -- days with a seemingly endless procession of funerals, with families trying to bear up under unbearable mountains of grief.

"We've sent officers, dispatchers, and even our chief of police has gone to Newtown to help out. We've helped with dispatching, traffic, miscellaneous calls. Our chief of police has gone to assist their chief of police with administrative duties," Kozlowsky was quoted as saying by CNN.

The shooting incident on December 15 is being considered the US' second-deadliest school shooting. Earlier in 2007, a gunman had killed 32 people in a massacre in Virginia Tech.