Greenbelt Police Launch Covert Operation to Aid Santa's Journey

Greenbelt's Mayor Pro Tem Emmett Jordan announced that the city's police department will be tracking Santa's journey as he heads our way on Christmas Eve.

"I think they're able to monitor a wide variety of frequencies," Jordan said.

Capt. Thomas Kemp with the Greenbelt Police Department confirmed Jordan's report. The force will indeed be tracking Santa in the spirit of making sure Santa's mission is safe, according to Kemp.

Basically Greenbelt's finest will have Santa's back. But this will not be something that you will see on the city's website or TV, it is a stealth mission.

"We'll be employing covert elements to do counter surveillance to make sure he's safe and undisturbed in his important duties," Kemp said.

For his part, possibly vying for votes, Jordan also declared that he would be following Santa's progress online. "I'll probably just check Greenbelt Patch for the latest information updates," he said.

As it is not an election year, however, it is likely that Jordan may be counting on Patch. So we decided we couldn't let him down and took on the responsibility of hooking Jordan and readers up with the mighty NORAD.

That's North American Aerospace Defense Command to you. And, yes, it does normally track airplanes, missiles, spaceships — and anything flying near the United States and Canada.

But on one magical night of the year, Christmas Eve, a team of volunteers spends the night tracking a very special pilot: Santa Claus.

"It's probably a pretty good investment. We want to make sure Santa gets here without any problem," Jordan said.

"We are the only organization that has the technology, the qualifications and the people to do it," NORAD said on its website.

Santa usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west, NORAD noticed, meaning he moves from the South Pacific to New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe before arriving in Maryland.

NORAD has tracked Santa for more than 50 years, ever since a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. ad misprinted a telephone number for calling Santa. Instead of reaching the North Pole workshop, the phone number put children through to NORAD’s director of operations, who had his staff check the radar for Santa’s progress.

"Mountains of historical data and over 50 years of NORAD tracking information leads us to believe that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of people throughout the world," NORAD wrote on its website.

NORAD will start tracking Santa’s real-time progress starting at 1 a.m. on Dec. 24. So come back to Patch to get your update. This year, NORAD partnered with Google, so on Dec. 24, you can also just type “Santa” into Google Maps to find his location.

Children and Santa's fans can also call or email to check when Santa will be nearby. Dial 1-877-446-6723 or email noradtrackssanta@gmail.com to get an update starting at 3 a.m. on Dec. 24.