BY TRACY AGNEW/SUFFOLK NEWS-HERALD
tracy.agnew@suffolknewsherald.com

SUFFOLK—A local distribution warehouse for a national television shopping chain donated five iPads to the Suffolk Police Department on Monday.

QVC gave the devices to Suffolk Police Chief Thomas Bennett during a presentation at the warehouse in the Wilroy Industrial Park. The iPads will be placed on specialized department units such as the mobile command bus. They can easily shoot video and send it directly to an incident command post, show topographical maps of areas and provide other useful functions for the police department.

“We’re all excited about it,” said Steve Soffos, transportation manager at the warehouse. “We’re trying to really show an emphasis on community service.”

Soffos said the workplace is gearing up its focus on community service in recent years. In addition to the iPad donation, it also has recently done food drives and school supply drives.

A current project collects items for care packages for people coming from out of the area to visit patients at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, Soffos said.

“To me, it’s very important,” Soffos said. “You need to give back to the community. It’s the right thing to do.”

In addition to doing projects that benefit nonprofit organizations, Soffos said, QVC also wanted to give directly to community needs.

“Instead of doing it under somebody else’s umbrella, we wanted to get our name out there as caring about the community,” he said.

QVC called the department to find out about needs they could provide, and the iPads were suggested by the police, Soffos said.