On August 5, 2013, Mountain View Precinct Community Action Officer Ben Carro was at the Loma Linda Elementary school when he saw Leslie Gonzales, who was attending her first day of school, carrying books without a backpack.
Officer Carro was talking with aide Jill Lebario, who noticed Leslie was crying. When he asked Jill why Leslie was crying, he found out that she didn’t have a backpack and her mother wouldn’t be able to buy her one for at least two weeks.
Officer Carro contacted fellow Community Action Officer Jon McLachlan and the two of them took a trip to Target, where they purchased a backpack, lunch box, water bottle, folders, pens, markers, crayons, ruler and pencils.
Both officers later returned to the school where they presented Leslie with her new school supplies, brightening her day and the start of the school year.
It’s the little things like this that police officers do that often go unnoticed in the day to day operations of a big city police department, but it shows that our officers are kind and compassionate and seek to make our communities better.
Thanks for taking that extra step and making a difference in the life of a child!