Children Harassed Over Cop Halloween Costumes – “Look! He’s a cop! Let’s shoot HIM!”
Caden, left, Julian, right, both dressed as their favorite hero for Halloween, only to face backlash from their communities.
Children Harassed Over Cop Halloween Costumes – “Look! He’s a cop! Let’s shoot HIM!”
Children in some communities faced harassment over their choice of Halloween costume this year after they dressed up as police officers.
Many children decided to dress up this Halloween as their favorite heroes. Thankfully, some of those children still view police as heroes. Julian, 5, of Sunnyvale, CA and Caden, 7, of Elkton, MD are two kids who admire police officers and wanted nothing more than to be one for Halloween. Only problem is, their communities didn’t have the same feelings towards police.
Andy, Julian’s stepfather, gave the following statement to Blue Lives Matter:
Julian couldn’t wait to be a police officer for Halloween…too bad most of the neighborhood gave the impression they didn’t like cops. Most of the houses I took him for trick or treating said dumb remarks. My son was so happy to go out there in uniform, he’s 5 years old so he didn’t understand but I DID. And for the kids to make fun of him because he was in uniform right in front of their parents was a sad thing to see. Not going to say all the houses we went to were like that but a lot were. My son did get lots of candy, they didn’t ruin Halloween for him but, he might not want to become a police officer when he grows up anymore because of the hate…very sad…
When we first received this story we thought hopefully this was an isolated incident, but across the country in Maryland, Amanda, the mother of Caden, would tell us a very similar story:
We live in Elkton, Maryland, where there was a recent police involved shooting on October 25, 2016 involving 2 suspect fatalities at a Motel on Route 40 very near our home. There are very polarizing opinions on our local LE since the event. Both my husband and I are volunteer firefighters, and our 7 year old son is the County Little Fire Chief. Back in September, when we took our son to find a Halloween costume, he quickly chose to be a Police Officer. He told us he wanted to be like his late Great-Grandfather, who retired as a Lieutenant in the Maryland State Police. Once things became increasingly hostile towards LE in our hometown, he remained determined to dress as a Police Officer. His costume included a toy gun and holster, which we decided to exclude in light of the recent events in Elkton. I wondered how our evening would go. He turned out to be the only one dressed as a Police Officer in the entire neighborhood. Most of the people we encountered just complimented how professional and nice his costume was. Unfortunately, as I feared, a child about 9 or 10 years old made a comment about 10 minutes into trick or treating. He said, “Look! He’s a cop! Let’s shoot HIM!”. By the time we turned around, that child and his friends were running away. Others made comments throughout the night, such as, “I don’t want to walk next to a cop!” And “Watch out, there’s a cop over there!” However, as expected, our son continued to impress everyone by not paying attention to the negative remarks and keeping his head held high. We were absolutely disgusted that there are people that have such disdain and hatred for the police, and that these people would take it out on our 7 year old son. He made us all proud by showing his support for LE last night.
Blue Lives Matter made certain to let these children know how proud we are that they chose to honor our profession despite all the hatred and criticism. Its sad that when a child dresses up as a cop in the United States of America, they have to face some of the the same treatment we get on the job everyday.
No child should have to experience something like this just for dressing up as their favorite hero. Share Julian and Caden’s story to show your support for these brave children.
Do you think that children should avoid police officer Halloween costumes? Let us know what you think in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
