Pacific County Undersheriff Ron Calrk exchanges “high fives” with a local elementary school student during the Shop With a Cop event.

LONG BEACH — The Peninsula Rotary Club recently reported on its partnership with law enforcement serving Pacific County, Dennis Company Stores, the Lost Roo restaurant, BJsPetProjects.com and several additional donors for “Shop with a Cop.”

Held the first Saturday in December, the event aims to foster positive relationships between youth and officers. Elementary school students are selected each year by principals in Ocean Beach and Naselle School Districts. Eighteen students were given the opportunity this year to purchase holiday gifts for themselves and their family members and to spend quality time with law enforcement officers “up close and personal” in a positive and non-confrontational environment. The effects of the program are multi-faceted with the key benefit being development of better and more trusting relationships between law enforcement and the community.

Co-Chairs Jamie Meling, Keleigh Schwartz and Jackie Ferrier said 19 officers from Long Beach Police Department, Pacific County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Washington State Parks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Washington State Patrol gave their time to make the 2016 event a success.

The Lost Roo provided breakfast and a venue for kids and cops to get to know one another. At the Lost Roo, the kids had their photos taken with Santa (Rob Waltemate) and their cop buddy by photographer Lee LaFollette and his elf, Janice Weston-LaFollette.

After breakfast the kids got an exciting ride in an official vehicle, complete with sirens and lights, as they headed to Dennis Company to shop. Each pair was given a $100 gift card, provided by Dennis Company and the Peninsula Rotary Club. Officers helped the students select gifts for family members and, as usual, it took some encouragement to get them to buy something for themselves. Volunteers awaited the duos after checkout, where gifts were wrapped while officers helped children write out gift tags and adorn the packages with bows. Dennis Company provided all the wrapping materials. Santa had one last surprise for each of the kids: holiday stockings, a handmade gift from BJsPetProjects.com, filled with books and toys thanks to Bank of the Pacific and Kleen Treatment Centers, along with gifts for each of their siblings from Rotary.

Galletti’s Restaurant and Cottage Bakery pitched in so the officers could be given a couple of cups of coffee for their efforts, with a little extra so they could take their new buddy to cocoa at some point during the year.