City of Austin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASERelease Date:
Contact: Public Information Office 512-974-5017 Email
Members of Amigos en Azul will host Shop with a Cop at 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 12, 2020 at the Target store in the Southpark Meadows shopping center located at 9500 S IH-35. Children will arrive around 11 a.m. and officers will hand out gift cards when they arrive.
This year, due to the pandemic, the kids will not be paired up with officers. Instead, parents will be with them and they will have the option of going into the store and shopping or going home to shop online.
During the holidays, Amigos en Azul provides disadvantaged students from area elementary schools the opportunity to shop for themselves or their family members. This year, roughly 60 children from Houston, St. Elmo and Perez elementary schools were chosen to participate. The Shop with a Cop program creates a positive environment in which elementary school students can socialize with officers and reinforce the fact that police officers are friends in the community.
Santa Claus will not make an appearance this year, due to the pandemic. For lunch this year, each child will be given a McDonald’s gift card that they may use when the like.
Other organizations participating and assisting in this program include Target stores, the Crystal Horton Group, Shop Core Properties, Velocity Federal Credit Union, Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union, Dunkin Donuts, Austin Cops for Charities, Austin Police Women’s Association, McDonald’s, and the Lesbian and Gay Peace Officer’s Association.
Amigos en Azul, or "Friends in Blue," was founded in 1982 to better bridge the gap between the Hispanic community and the Austin Police Department. Every year they:
- Award scholarships to area high school students
- Encourage recruitment of youth into law enforcement careers and provide a progressive image with which they can identify
- Stimulate by word and deed a more positive identification with law enforcement on behalf of the entire Austin community
- Improve the lines of communication between Spanish speaking people in the community and law enforcement.
- Involved in the established police-community relation programs with the Austin community in adherence to Austin Police Department policies.
- Volunteer in the community conducting outreach programs and crime prevention