Officers around the country took children to go shopping for gifts at Walmart.
Once a year, police departments all over the nation participate in the Shop with a Cop event. Officers were partnered with children and took them to local Walmarts where the children received given gift cards to spend on anything they want for Christmas.
Hundreds of officers escorted hundreds of children to Walmarts in their police cruisers. The Walmart Foundation provided gift cards (ranging from $50 to $100) to the students. The elementary and middle school children were selected primarily by their family’s economic situation.
In Baltimore, Maryland an 11-year-old girl named Chandler Johnson participated in the Shop with a Cop event last year and purchased Barbie dolls. This year she chose to buy craft making kits, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Lancaster Online reports that a seven-year-old boy purchased a bicycle and monster truck, while also getting a doll for his sister. Lancaster Police Officer Will Smith used personal funds to cover whatever exceeded the gift card's balance. He also bought the boy a helmet to go along with the bicycle.
“This is about building relationships. They get to see us as regular people, like being dads. They will remember the police officers who took them shopping and treated them with respect when they become teenagers or adults,” said Smith.
Albany’s Democrat-Herald reported that Kylee Brown, a 12-year-old student at Calapooia Middle School in Oregon, “picked out two plush blankets for her foster parents, a poster for her little sister, a ball for her foster brother and two books, a basketball and other small items for herself.”
Albany’s police departments have held Shop with a Cop events for the past 20 years.
Though this practice is not new to many police departments, it comes at a time when the image of police is negative. The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner have drawn attention to police brutality. Recent riots, protests, and media have targeted police officers as the primary abusers of power. Officers and their families hope to encourage trust and unity between local law enforcement and the communities they serve through acts such as Shop with a Cop.
“All cops are not bad. The way I approach my policing is that I respect you as a man first, and then we get into the other things. [Even] if you're doing something wrong, respect is going to come first,” Baltimore City Officer Michael Johnson told the Baltimore Sun.
