A life-changing experience: Cops for Kids

It's a day local police officers and children look forward to every year.

The Cops for Kids program is now in its 29th year and helps more than 100 underprivileged kids annually.

"I took this one home and I framed it," Liliana Gonzales told KOAT. She's referring to a photo she has with a police officer from two years ago.

"I was extremely nervous and quiet in the beginning, but the cops were extremely nice," Liliana said.

She and her brother participated in Cops for Kids back in 2021.

"Overall, it was amazing," said her brother Felix Gonzales.

The Gonzales siblings are part of a lucky group of children who get to spend an entire day with a police officer. Each child is paired up with a cop, who picks them up from their house. Then they take them to breakfast, a fun activity, followed by a shopping spree.

"They let us say stuff over the radios, out to people on the streets, and say hi and stuff while we were driving, which was extremely fun," Liliana said.

Their mother now recommends Cops for Kids to every family she can.

"Not every parent has the opportunity to be able to go blow two or $300 on their kids for Christmas and for them to just have a little something for themselves, just for them was a really neat experience," said Adela Rivera.

She calls the program lift-changing and has seen the lasting effects it has on her children.

"To be able to experience it from the front seat, than have our children experience that from behind the seat, " Rivera said. "We want them to be able to trust these officers, to be able to go to them in a time of need."

Her daughter, Liliana, is now thinking of becoming a police officer and is more comfortable having to talk to someone in uniform.

"She felt strong enough to be able to call and give the police good information and wasn't afraid at all," Rivera said.

She told KOAT the program not only helps the kids, but the officers too.

"They go through a lot in these situations. There's a lot of trauma, there's a lot of violence. And for this, this was a good opportunity for them to heal a little bit, too, and have a good time with these kids, so that the kids can see that the police officers aren't always just racing down the street or they don't just show up when there's an accident. They don't just show up when there's something bad going on," Rivera said.

She said this proves officers show up during the good times, too.

Every year, the program gets funding through Albuquerque Metro Crime Stoppers and donations made to it.

So far, they've raised $12,000, but have a goal of $20,000.