This year’s Shop with a Cop, sponsored by volunteers from the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office, was “an overwhelming success,” said Sgt. Steve Perry, director of the program.
Ninety-three children and their families all met outside the Gloucester Walmart on Saturday morning, paired with law enforcement officers, and enthusiastically headed inside to the shopping aisles. Their purchases ranged from clothing to bicycles and everything in between.
“We had a ball,” said Perry.
The event involved more than 50 officers from the Gloucester Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police, Virginia Marine Police, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia ABC Law Enforcement, Williamsburg Police Department, and West Point Police Department, he said.
In addition to the 93 children who attended the day of the event, five families went shopping at a different time because of illness and other issues, said Perry. On top of that, three of the sheriff’s office’s four patrol shifts and the criminal...