There's no need to be alarmed, folks.
All those law enforcement vehicles you may have spotted today at the Great Northern Road Walmart location and the Quality Inn and Suites on Bay Street were there to make Christmas a little bit brighter for 22 deserving children.
Now in its seventh year, the annual Shop With A Cop holiday event pairs an area child in need with a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, the OPP Sault Detachment, Batchewana Police Service, or the Anishinabek Police Service to shop for family Christmas gifts.
Constable Fred Brown told SooToday.com that he originally borrowed the idea from the Fraternal Order of Police out of the United States.
"It's important for community involvement," he said. "It shows the children that we take shopping that we're not just police officers, we're here to help the community. And it shows them that we're people just like them."
Community Relations officers work with members of the local school districts to help choose the children, and recommendations are also received from the Children's Aid Society.
Each of this year's 22 participating children received $100 to shop for gifts, the funding for which was raised through the sale of plush toys (teddy bears and police dogs) over the last year at Walmart.
"The first thing we tell the children when they're assigned their officer and receive their money is they must buy something for themselves first," Constable Brown told us. "After that they can buy for mom and dad or their siblings."
Once the shopping was all said and done today, the children traveled from Walmart in the Sault Police Service's Ballistic Armoured Tactical Transport (BATT) vehicle to the Quality Inn and Suites where volunteers were ready to help wrap each gift.
Everyone then enjoyed a healthy breakfast provided by Gliss Restaurant.
This year's Shop With A Cop event would not be possible without generous support from Quality Inn and Suites, Gliss Restaurant, Lock City Dairy, Coca Cola, Lays Chips, Fountain Tire and Sarah Bug Sweet Treats.
(Photo: Participants arrive for gift wrapping at 7th annual Shop With A Cop event at the Quality Inn Hotel and Suites, Saturday, December 13, 2014 in the Sault Police Service's Ballistic Armoured Tactical Transport (BATT) vehicle. Donna Hopper/SooToday)