Local group to donate 650 appreciation bags for West Valley police departments

By Madeline Ackley Salazar
Mail | Twitter: @Mkayackley

A local law enforcement support group is making its first stop in the West Valley, having assembled hundreds of goodie bags to be delivered to officers and K-9 police dogs at Goodyear, Avondale, Tolleson and El Mirage police departments this weekend.

Mia Paris, the president of Supporting the Thin Blue Line, has been doing “random acts of kindness” for law enforcement officers for most of her life, but started her own group about a year ago, mainly to support departments after an officer had been injured or worse.

Paris said that when tragedy strikes, the families of officers typically receive assistance and support from the community. But oftentimes their fellow officers don’t receive the same treatment, she said.

“Their blue family, a lot of times, just has to go back to work and there’s no appreciation or support for them,” Paris said. “They have lost a family member as well.”

After a Casa Grande officer died by suicide last year, Paris said she drove to the department with a basket of goodies and started decorating the outside with blue ribbons.

Then, the fallen officer’s partner got out of his car, and came up to her.

“I spent an hour standing there talking to this young man,” Paris said. “On more than one occasion, I’ve experienced tears and it’s very, very appreciated when we show up.”

The volunteer-run group does whatever it can to support officers in need. It has donated Thanksgiving meals to officers who work through the holiday, and around Christmas, it donated gifts to nearly 30 children of fallen officers.

The group even makes gift bags for the animals that assist human officers, including K-9s and the horses on the Tempe Police Department’s Mounted Unit.

And sometimes, the group just wants to commit what Paris calls a “random act of kindness,” which is what the group is up to this weekend.

Between 30 and 40 volunteers have committed to assembling and delivering about 650 goodie bags — which contain useful items like gum, coffee, beef jerky, granola bars, cookies and hand sanitizer–to be delivered to West Valley departments on Saturday.

The group has about 1,000 people connected to its social media pages, and many — though not all — have some connection to law enforcement, and know the mental toll the job can have, especially in line-of-duty deaths.

One of Paris’ volunteers mentioned that her son is a police officer and was having a hard time following the death of an officer in his department.

“He actually had to respond and take the reports of what had happened to one of the officers, and it was affecting him deeply,” Paris said.

“There are a lot of officers that have to show up and do the work to investigate what has happened to one of their brothers and sisters. And to know the community recognizes that is a big deal.”

For more information, visit the group's website, or follow on Facebook or Instagram @SupportingtheThinBlueLine.

Madeline Ackley Salazar can be reached at mackley@iniusa.org or found on Twitter @Mkayackley.