Police officers in Fort Worth, Texas had a surprise for traffic violators last week.

Instead of writing tickets for minor violations such as driving without wearing a seat belt, the officers gave out frozen turkeys.

The turkeys were donated to the police department, Fox 4 News reported Wednesday. Officers decided to continue the cycle of giving by handing out the Thanksgiving dinner staples a week before the holiday. About 25 turkeys were distributed.

“Police tell us it’s one way of showing people that they serve the community in a lot of different ways,” Fil Alvarado reported for Fox 4 News.

Fort Worth officers weren’t the only ones who made the news recently for spreading holiday cheer.

On Sunday, Milwaukee Police Department’s District 5 partnered with students at Messmer Preparatory Catholic  School and MATC’s Culinary Arts Program to serve Thanksgiving dinner to area families. Over 400 people were expected to attend, the Journal Sentinel reported.

These acts of kindness by police officers come toward the end of a particularly difficult year for police-community relations. Multiple violent attacks against officers have taken place since the summer months after a series of controversial shootings of black men by police officers.

Over the weekend, at least four police officers were shot in separate incidents in Texas, Missouri and Florida within 24 hours. One of the officers, Detective Benjamin Marconi of San Antonio, Texas, was killed. The other three officers shot Sunday are expected to survive.

Seeking ways to ease police-community tensions has been a near constant topic of public conversation in the wake of such violence. Perhaps Fort Worth police officers found just the “ticket” to help ease some of that tension.

Read the first installment The Stream’s “Why I Serve,” a series featuring law enforcement officers from all races and stripes and every corner of the nation sharing in their own words why they walk the Thin Blue Line.