Shop with a Cop in Alamosa

ALAMOSA — Saturday morning, intersections in Alamosa were briefly blocked along Main Street and sirens filled the air as a line of vehicles from law enforcement agencies in Alamosa, Saguache plus Regional Emergency Medical Trauma Advisory Council (SLV RETAC), Alamosa Ambulance and Colorado Parks and Wildlife headed toward Walmart and pulled up in front of the doors.

Something was definitely going on when car doors opened and law enforcement officials got out. But that something was not what people might have expected as a kids ranging in age from third to fifth grade got out of each of the cars.

Saturday was this year’s Shop with a Cop event where about 30 first responders — 23 from Alamosa Police Department (APD), Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office, Saguache County Sheriff’s Office, Adams State University, Alamosa Ambulance and Colorado Parks and Wildlife — volunteered their time to be paired up with one of the kids and take them Christmas shopping for gifts to give their families. Alamosa County Commissioners Lori Laske and Vern Heersink also joined in on the fun.

As APD Sgt. William Squires, the main organizer of the event explained, a letter was sent out to teachers at Alamosa 3-5 and Centauri telling them about the event. Teachers then picked the students they thought could really benefit being part of the event and had them make a Christmas list that they sent on to Squires.

Squires emphasized that, although some of the officers were familiar with the families of some of the kids, they had nothing to do with who was selected.

Using money that had been donated throughout the year, Squires and others first went shopping for Christmas gifts for the kids, and then, using the kids’ lists, they went shopping for some of the items for their families.

“Last year,” Squires said, “I was at Alamosa Home buying mattresses. A lot of kids talked about their parents sleeping on the floor and…well…we can’t have that. There were also kids who talked about food they would like to have. This year, there were lots of requests for clothes.”

Earlier that morning at APD’s Training Center, Santa had handed out the gifts that had been bought for each of the children. After that, the cop-kid duos took off for Walmart where the children picked out gifts for brothers and sisters, parents, sometimes grandparents or special aunts and uncles.

When they were finished, the duos went to a designated check-out lane where officers were on hand to help out as needed and Squires stood by, cash in hand, to pay for each transaction.

Watching them, it was clear that many of the children had given significant thought to the gifts they selected. One boy, a fourth grader whose shopping partner was Deputy Brandi Slane with Saguache County Sheriff’s Office, held up paint he had chosen for his father and a teapot he had chosen for his two-year-old sister.

“She can pretend she’s pouring tea,” he said, demonstrating. “It’s something she can do by herself until I get home from school.”

A fifth-grade girl bought a hand mixer for her mother. “We have one,” she said. “I think it’s broken because my mom can’t use it anymore.”

Another fourth-grade girl bought a new nightgown for her grandmother. “Pink is her favorite color,” she said.

Watching the cops and kids check out, it was difficult to tell who was having the most fun.

“This is really fun and exciting,” said Community Services Officer Pedro de Pedro Pablo, who has been with APD for about a year. “We didn’t have much when I was growing up. We never had Christmas presents and we had to work on Christmas. Now that I’m an adult, I can give Christmas to my family and my parents. I love doing this with the kids.”

Other officers described it as “their favorite day on the job.”

“This is our ninth year,” Sgt. Squires said, “and every year it gets bigger and bigger. It’s great to see the community involvement.

“As police officers, lots of times we see families on one of their worst days. It’s always nice to be looked at differently, to be helping like this and to show kids we’re not somebody they have to be afraid of. Yeah, I’ve got to say, this is one of my favorite days, too.”

After the purchases were made, cops and kids headed back to APD’s training center where volunteers with Hoodlums Car Club along with Alamosa County Commissioners Laske (dressed like an elf) and Heersink (decidedly not dressed like an elf) wrapped the gifts the kids had just bought.

Tommy Ortega, one of the main figures with Hoodlums Car Club, was among them, along with his wife, Bonnie. Prior to being a manager with Xcel Energy, Ortega spent fifteen years in law enforcement, eleven of which were on the Monte Vista Police Department.

When asked why Hoodlums invests so much time in the event, Ortega said, “It’s a way of helping people who might need a little bit of help and giving back to the community. And seeing the smiles you see on the kids’ faces.”

APD Capt. Joey Spangler, currently serving as interim Police Chief, was also on hand along with his wife and daughters whom he’d brought along to remind them of the importance of doing things for others.

“This is always a good thing for the community and APD, too,” he said smiling. “And it’s a lot of fun.”

Funding for the event totaled about $8,000 with donations coming from the Hoodlums Car Club – Denver, Pueblo and Alamosa chapters, Daren Bolt Insurance Agency, Free Community Christmas Dinner and Cooley and Sons Excavating.

As a postscript, Sgt. Squires has his own special tradition that’s one of his “favorites.” If there’s any money left over from the $5,000 set aside for shopping, Squires buys $100 gift cards for one or two officers on hand to pass out to families they see shopping – larger families who could likely use a little help.

“It’s hard sometimes to get people to take the cards,” he says. “I think it maybe embarrasses them? But we do it anyway and try to make it short and quick.”

Not long after explaining that, Officer Crowther handed a card to a mother or possible  grandmother with five young children. He briefly explained what he was doing and handed the woman the card.

She looked stunned and then her face broke into a wide smile as she gave Crowther a deep hug, despite only coming up to the middle of his chest.

Of the interaction, Squires just said, quietly, “It gets me. Every time.”