Before heading home with his parents and Christmas presents, 7-year-old Dodge Cooper ran up to a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputy and gave him a hug.
For Deputy Joey Wertzberger, that ending to a busy morning embodied how they are trying to reach out to the community one child and family at a time.
On Saturday morning, local law enforcement officers took kids shopping at Meijer as part of the annual Shop with a Cop program sponsored by the Johnson County Fraternal Order of Police.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThat is Wertzberger’s favorite day of the year, he said.
As a deputy, he often is interacting with people on their worst day. Getting to be with them on their best day is a refreshing change of pace, he said.
Starting at 7 a.m., 37 officers from agencies across Johnson County took 37 kids shopping, helping them pick out games, toys and clothes as Christmas presents. They had about $250 to spend on gifts for each kid.
Cooper and Wertzberger scoured the toy aisles for an hour, picking up a collection of toys ranging from puzzle games to a Minecraft-themed Hot Wheels track.
The one-on-one time is a chance for the kids to get to know the officers, police said.
The uniform and gun can often be a scary sight to young children, Wertzberger said. Through this event, their goal is to leave a positive impression on them, he said.
For a single mother with three children, Somer Kantz, of Whiteland, was concerned her children wouldn’t be able to have presents this Christmas.
“It would have been the first year I wouldn’t have been able to do anything for them,” Kantz said. “I’m extremely grateful for their help.”
Kantz’s husband passed away four years ago, leaving her and three young children behind: Drake, Parker and Peyton. She recently was evicted and lost her home.
The house she is now renting had to have several appliances replaced, which she had to pay for, Kantz said.
“It’s been rough financially,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to do anything for them for Christmas.”
The event is able to show the softer side of law enforcement, Sgt. Angela Moore said.
Moore spent the morning helping a teen girl shop for clothes, shoes and makeup.
“We spent a lot of time trying on shoes,” Moore said.
She hopes that people will be able to see that officers aren’t any different than them, she said.
“We are humans,” she said. “We have families and kids, too.”
