KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella. She found out about the "Shop With a Cop" event and made a trip to the Northland to report on excited kids and police officers.
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More than 135 children got to shop with Kansas City Missouri police officers and other law officers Wednesday at a Target store.
Each child received $100 to spend on toys and gifts as part of the annual "Shop with a Cop" program.
The event, hosted by The Kansas City Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, gave kids and police the chance to patrol toy aisles. Each child was paired with a uniformed KCPD officer for a special shopping experience.
"It shows them that we're humans too, that there's more to us than just the badge, and the lights and the chaos," KCPD Officer Jacey O'Dell said.
Officer O'Dell was paired with sisters Alice and Gracie Siegfried.
"They were such a ball of energy, they reminded me of my own two," Officer O'Dell said.
The hardest part of the shopping trip was managing expectations in the toy aisles.
"Telling them they can't get everything they want, because they definitely wanted everything," Officer O'Dell said.
Sgt. Brad Dumit, secretary of the FOP Police Memorial Foundation, explained the event is meaningful for both the children and officers.
"Watching their eyes light up and watching them get paired up with some of our uniformed officers is a lot of fun because it's exciting for them, but it's also exciting for us too," Dumit said.
The Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police raises money year-round to provide families with Christmas cheer through the program.
Ashlyn Siegfried watched her daughters, Alice and Gracie, shop with officers, walking away with dolls and stuffed animals.
"I just like seeing them happy. It's awesome," Siegfried said.
For Alice, the best part wasn't the toys she picked out – it was spending time with Officer O'Dell.
When asked what the coolest part of the experience was, Alice simply said: "Hanging out with her."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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