Shop with a Cop brings together police, kids at Christmas

Santa substituted his sleigh and reindeer last week for a full police escort complete with lights and sirens in Gastonia. 

The Gastonia Police Department held its sixth annual Shop with a Cop event Friday, delivering more than $6,000 in toys and gifts to children at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Gaston.

At the center of it all was Santa, decked out in police blue instead of his more traditional red, to help officers hand out bags stuffed with gifts to more than two dozen children. 

Most toy bags were stuffed so tightly with gifts and gear the children of the Boys and Girls Club couldn't lift them by themselves.

To Gastonia Police Department Sgt. Thomas Doby, who serves as the agency's west district community coordinator, there's no event he looks forward to more on the calendar each year than Shop with a Cop. 

"You're getting a chance to really help a kid who might not otherwise get that chance," Doby said. "And you're also getting a chance to connect with a kid and maybe build a bond. For me this is what it's all about." 

Doby has served with Gastonia Police since 1999, with much of his career spent investigating street crimes. It was a beat that encouraged proactive policing, he said, and often brought him into contact with some of the city's youngest residents. 

Events like Shop with a Cop help officers build a relationship with kids and their families, Doby said, that could pay dividends down the road. 

"Some of these kids interact with us, or their families have," Doby said. "It helps if you can show them that you're a real person and maybe you build a different image in their mind that 'Hey, the police are here to help us. They see that it's not just the gray shirts entering a house executing a search warrant. There's a different side to it." 

To pull off the event, the Gastonia Police Foundation provides officers with pre-paid Target gift cards worth $250, and officers work with children from the Boys and Girls Club to pull items off each child's wish list. Doby said the idea is to focus on a child's needs first and then cap the shopping trip with toys the children want. 

"No matter what, you know this child is going to walk away with the shoes and jacket and gloves that they need to stay warm through the winter," Doby said. "There might be other items they need, and this your chance to make sure they've got it." 

Like everything else in 2020, COVID-19 changed the nature of this year's Shop with a Cop. Officers generally have a chance to sit down for breakfast with their assigned child, build a rapport and take them shopping for an afternoon. 

This year, they exchanged a video call with kids in place of breakfast and officers shopped online with the aid of their Target gift cards. 

Doby said that didn't dampen officers' enthusiasm - or the anticipation of the 25 children the department purchased goodies for. Officers still took part in the best part of the event Friday, the gift exchange, which followed a full police procession of motorcycles and police cruisers complete with lights and sirens. 

"We give them the full show and you get to see their response," Doby said. "You get to see them light up because this entire thing is about them. Some of them may not get that any other time of year but they get it now and that's worth everything."

Reach Adam Orr at 704-869-1828 or aorr@gastongazette.com