On December 4, The Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police held their annual Cops with Kids event at the Target in Ward Parkway Shopping Center. With the help of schools and churches around the KC metro, over 200 children Christmas shopped with police officer buddies. This event is a great way to provide gifts for many of these children, as some might have otherwise gone without this holiday season. But according to Brad Lemon, President of the KC FOP, there's an even bigger reason that this event is so important.
"We know what the effect is that day. To watch their smiles and watch what toys they're getting... yes, this is important that we give kids Christmas, but I think the greater piece of what we do is creating a relationship and a level of trust between the police officers and the children that are out there. We hope this helps our relationships continue to grow."
Lemon shared a personal story from last year that spoke to his belief that area police and community members were creating ties through this event.
"I had a young lady last year, she was probably 12 or 13 years old, that looked at me and told me she didn't like police officers," Lemon begins. He says that because he was in dress clothes, the girl chose him to shop with her over the other uniformed officers, not realizing he was also a police officer.
When Lemon asked her why she didn't like police, she recounted how on a couple of occasions police arrested her mom's boyfriends.
"I think that's really what we have to get out of this — that a lot of kids we see at our event are kids that have had negative interactions with police officers through no fault of their own," Lemon says.
"[When you're a kid,] all you understand is that people are coming into your house and people you know — or you love — disappear and go someplace else."
Lemon explained that they continued to shop and chat, eventually becoming more comfortable with each other. As the girl selected her last few gifts and they neared the end of their shopping trip, Lemon finally revealed to her that he was actually a police officer.
"When I told her I was a police officer, she couldn't believe it."
Lemon says that this story shows that having a positive interaction with police can dramatically affect the relationship between these kids and officers.
"When I was leaving, she ran up to her mom, hugged her and she said, 'Mom, he's a police officer and my friend.'"