Shop With a Cop pairs law enforcement officers with community kids in need for breakfast and holiday shopping. Children who participate are often at-risk, disadvantaged or have experienced a negative situation with law enforcement.
Officers from the Park City and Heber police departments, deputies from the Summit and Wasatch county sheriff’s offices and Utah Highway Patrol troopers will all take part in the events Saturday, Dec. 7.
Heber Police Sgt. Joshua Weishar said The Hub Restaurant in Heber will provide breakfast at 6:30 a.m., followed by a motorcade of lights and sirens winding through the city to Walmart where the children choose Christmas gifts.
“Usually the kids in the cars have control of the lights and the sirens, so they set them off and toot the horns, just for the 10 or 15 minutes as we go by. So kind of like a parade,” Weishar said.
There may be some traffic impacts on Main Street as the motorcade makes its way to Walmart.
The scene will be similar in Park City. The DoubleTree Hotel on Park Avenue will provide breakfast at 7 a.m. and then a motorcade will travel to the Walmart in Kimball Junction around 8 a.m.
Park City Police Sgt. Jay Randall said there will be minor traffic impacts.
“It’ll only take about a minute to two minutes for everybody to get through,” he said. “Typically, it's not a lot longer than that, but we do generally have anywhere from 30 to 70 officers that participate in the event and so that's how many cars we have, in addition to some of the parents that like to come out and actually shop with their kids as well.”
Randall said most Park City officers look forward to Shop With A Cop more than any other event during the year.
