Children bounced at tables with their families in anticipation of a night with officers from the Irvine Police Department, drawing with crayons and writing Christmas lists.
“Mommy, what do you want for Christmas,” a little girl dressed in pink yelled across the table to her mother, as her sister drew out her own wish list.
The officers arrived together in uniform and began socializing with volunteers and the children as they filed into the Stonefire Grill patio. A small boy jumped in excitement as he fist-bumped a cop, giggling and sticking his fist into the air a second time.
Forty children from Human Options, a local shelter that assists battered women and their families, paired off with officers from the Irvine Police Department last week for an evening of shopping, socializing and dinner at the sixth annual Shop-With-A-Cop event.
The children received $50 Target gift cards and dinner with their families at Stonefire Grill, which donates a portion of the gift cards as well as food and space for the event.
Often times, the only experience the children have with police officers is when a parent is being arrested, and the goal of the event is to help them develop a positive relationship with the police.
“We think it’s really exciting because our officers are interfacing with these kids in neutral territory,” said Commander Mike Hamel. “We’re showing them that we care.”
Families in the Human Option emergency shelters have often left all of their belongings behind when they have to quickly leave a crisis situation, said Julie Tapp, chief program officer for Team Kids, a non-profit that helped organize the event. The opportunity for them to buy a few toys and gifts at Target means so much more to them because of that, she said.
Lieutenant Mike Hallinan was once partnered with a 6-year-old boy whose only experience with the police was when his dad was taken away. The boy was hesitant at first, Hallinan said, but after the ice was broken the boy’s view of the police had changed.
“By the end of the night, he wanted to be a police officer,” he said. “We want to have positive interactions with the kids and give them hope.”
A few years ago, officers found a drawing by one of the kids of a Christmas tree with a heart next to it that read “I love the police” at the restaurant after the event, said Commander Mike Hamel. The drawing is probably still hanging somewhere in the department, he said.
For Vivian Clecak, founding chief executive officer for Human Options, the best part of the night is watching the tall police officers take the hands of the small children as they walk through the stores shopping for Barbie dolls and toy cars or gifts for their mothers.
The police have a good time, and they always end up spending some of their own money on the kids, she said.
The aisles of Target were bustling with holiday shoppers and pairs of officers and children in search of clothes, toys, shoes and gifts for their mothers and siblings.
In one aisle, an officer and two young girls toiled over which stuffed animal would be the best gift for their baby sister, while another group went off in search of a picture frame for a boy’s mother.
“This is the best day ever!” a boy pushing a cart shouted with his partner for the night echoing him.