Once a year, the crisp, December morning stillness is pierced by what may sound like millions of law enforcement sirens - all blaring at once.
For Jefferson City residents who've been around during the last quarter-century, that's the perhaps-familiar sound of what now is called "Operation TOYS" (Take Our Youth Shopping), once known as "Shop With A Cop."
Saturday morning, the sound was produced by about four dozen vehicles from at least a half-dozen law enforcement agencies, as they ferried 55 eager youngsters to the Kmart parking lot.