GENEROUS residents have donated 12,000 toys for vulnerable children across Essex in just over a fortnight. Kind-hearted cops at Essex Police launched their Community Christmas Giving Tree initiative for the first time last year and saw 1,300 presents collected and distributed to 164 families within Tendring. Following its success, Superintendent Lily Benbow, who brought the initiative with her from London when she joined as Tendring’s district commander last year, widened it to take place across the whole county this Christmas. She was staggered by the response to the appeal, which saw 12,000 toys donated in just over two weeks. Some of the thousands of toys collected