San Juan County children attend annual ‘Shop with a Cop’ event

SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. – 100 children across San Juan County had Target all to themselves Saturday morning for their annual “Shop with a Cop” event. 

“We partner with all of our law enforcement partners in San Juan County, Farmington PD, and Bloomfield PD, Aztec PD, we had a Game and Fish. We’ve had members of the FBI,” said San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari. 

The 2 to 15 year olds spent $125 and spent time without local law enforcement. 

“Sometimes these children see our interaction, they see us they see us work, and they see us doing our activities, and they become scared of law enforcement, and it’s our way to kind of mend those fences with these children,” said Ferrari. 

These are all children who have encountered someone with a badge within the past years.  

“For instance, it could have been a traffic stop that a very bad accident happened in. It could be domestic violence calls we go on, or just an array of different things we deal with on a daily basis. We may have had interactions, unfortunately, negatively with a parent,” Ferrari said.

The children are chosen based on the funds available and applications submitted. 

“They can be put in through parents, sometimes through social workers. Sometimes we have churches and schools that also push those applications forward. We also partner with a variety of other government entities that may find children in our community who are indigent, that they don’t have the opportunity to have a what we consider a normal Christmas,” said Ferrari. 

This is all possible with the help of the San Juan County Foundation. 

“Some of these kids, they’re just, they’re wonderful, you know. And you really get to understand some of these kids’ situations. These are not greedy children that are just looking at an opportunity to take advantage of a free program, that’s not that. They truly understand I feel the meaning of Christmas,” said Ferrari.