Boston police’s newest addition to its patrol fleet is a surprising one: an ice cream truck.

Mayor Marty Walsh, Police Commissioner William Evans, and Dick Parry, of the Boston Police Foundation, unveiled the new truck Monday with the help of kids from the Tobin Community Center.

The truck is part of a community policing effort called “Operation Hoodsie Cup,” which has handed out over 120,000 free Hoodsie Cups since its inception in 2010, Boston police said in a statement.

The truck was bought by the Boston Police Foundation and HP Hood donated all of the ice cream distributed, police said. It will be featured during Boston police’s National Night Out events August 1 and 2.


“If you had told me 30 years ago that the Boston Police Department would have an ice cream truck as part of its patrol force and my officers would be handing out Hoodsie Cups … I would’ve said you were crazy,” Evans said in a statement. “But, I absolutely love the new truck and everything this program represents. The goodwill it generates between my officers and our city’s young people is undeniable and nothing short of remarkable and my only regret is that I wish we had started doing this 30 years ago.”

Police said Operation Hoodsie Cup has allowed them to connect with thousands of kids in local communities and serves as a symbol of a promise that officers are committed to keeping “young people safe and secure.”