Shop With A Cop: Police Officers Spread Holiday Cheer In Boston
BOSTON (CBS) - Officers from several police departments were busy spreading holiday cheer to hundreds of kids in Boston Monday night. These few hours every December might be some of the best on the job for the officers.
"That's what this is all about. Just seeing them smile and have a good time," one officer told WBZ.
"This is our 10th anniversary of Shop with a Cop: Heroes and Helpers," said Boston Police Commissioner William Gross.
Dozens of officers are paired up with almost 400 kids at Target to buy them gifts and the officers usually spring for extra.
"They have a gift card to buy toys for the kids, but when they get to the cash register, they always overbuy," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said. "They put a hand in their own pocket and make up the difference."
The point, certainly, is to give underprivileged kids a merrier season.
"We believe that no family should feel as though they can't have a great holiday season," Commissioner Gross said.
But it's also, the police commissioner tells us, to form early relationships between the police and the community they serve and it seems clear that it works.
The Boston Police Department hosted the event. BPD Officers were joined by first responders from several other agencies including Boston EMS, MBTA Transit PD, UMass-Boston PD, Suffolk University PD, Boston University PD and Boston College PD.