WILTON, Iowa–In 2020, looking for a way to help kids enjoy the holidays even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and have positive interactions with local police officers, the Wilton Police Department put on its first ever Shop with a Cop. Both the children and the officers who participated in it loved the event, so the department made plans to make it an annual tradition.
With the help of Wilton Elementary School’s nurse, Heather Hartley and several Wilton Junior-Senior High School teachers, the department identified 26 students who could use a little help around the holidays. The department has also kept track of which students they took shopping last year so that new students could enjoy the outing. The department particularly focused on bring students in second grade and up, as they felt younger children could get too overwhelmed by the shopping experience. However, they did do some holiday shopping for one kindergarten student and invited her to attend the pizza party for other elementary school age Shop with a Cop participants.
To cover the cost of taking all the kids shopping, the Wilton Police Department set up a Go Fund Me page, opened donation accounts both at the local bank and at city hall, and used Facebook and word of mouth to get people involved. At first, they feared they would not raise enough funds, but the community got behind the effort and fully covered their costs. “I think the more we get the word out the easier it’ll get,” observed Sargent Todd Johnson, Wilton’s school resource officer. “We were a little worried at first, but everybody came through.”
This year, approximately 21 officers volunteered to help out with Shop with a Cop. To give as many kids as possible a one-on-one shopping experience with their cop, the event took place over several days. The evening of Dec. 16, the department took the younger kids to Walmart to shop and then brought them back to school to enjoy a pizza party and wrap all their gifts for family members. The morning of Dec. 20, the Wilton Police Department took a smaller group of older students to Walmart to have their shopping time before having a pizza lunch and returning to their regular afternoon classes.
After finishing a second successful year of Shop with a Cop, Johnson feels glad that the department started the program and that it can have such a positive impact on the students who participate. “What I liked for me specifically is to see all the kids I see at school have a good interaction with the cops,” he shared. “It teaches them cops aren’t just the people who show up when something bad happens.”
The Wilton Police Department plans to bring Shop with a Cop back again in 2022. To help students have an even better shopping experience, they will encourage next year’s group to make gift lists for their family members ahead of time to help them find what they need without feeling overpowered by the number of gift choices they have.
