Behind the Badge
Traffic collision.
Child not breathing.
Suspicious person in a vehicle.
These are the types of things Anaheim PD Dispatch Supervisor Steven Querry is used to seeing pop up on his computer screen.
Not these items:
Kung pao shrimp.
Kids crispy chicken.
Frozen lemonade.
But there he was Tuesday night, staring at a computer screen at California Pizza Kitchen at Anaheim Gardenwalk, watching server Hailey Miller key in an order for a table of four.
The 10-year APD veteran was among several police department employees — sworn and non-sworn — who spent several hours May 12 working alongside servers at lunch and dinner at CPK to raise money for the APD’s Cops 4 Kids program.
Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada delivers pizza to 7-year-old Madison Gallacher of Orange during the Tip A Cop fundraiser May 12.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
The event — Tip a Cop —- isn’t new.
But for the first time Tuesday, all the money raised went directly to Cops 4 Kids (anaheimcops4kids.com), the Anaheim PD’s non-profit that seeks, through a variety of programs, to foster positive relationships among youth ages 5-17, police and the community at large.
Proceeds from Tip a Cop typically go to support an outside non-profit, such as an event a couple of months ago for the Special Olympics at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. that raised more than $5,000 for the organization, said Sgt. Jacob Gallacher, who runs Cops 4 Kids with Officer Leslie Vargas.
Tuesday’s Tip a Cop raised $7,200 for Cops 4 Kids, Gallacher said.
“This is a lot of work,” he said of waiting tables. “These people (servers) work very hard every day.”
Even Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada got in on the action.
Six-year-old Samantha Sandoval of Anaheim has her photo taken with Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada at California Pizza Kitchen at Anaheim Gardenwalk.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
“Anything else I can get for you?” Quezada asked a table of five after he delivered to them a barbecue chicken pizza, an Italian chopped salad, a “The Works” pizza, a kids cheese pizza and a kids pepperoni pizza.
Each officer and other APD personnel were paired with a server and helped deliver food and drinks and clear tables.
Guests had the option of putting into white envelopes donations to Cops 4 Kids — in addition to their usual tips for servers.
“We’re not here to take away from your tips!” Gallacher assured CPK servers prior to the dinner rush hour.
CPK’s Kirby Morales, a server who doubles as the restaurant’s “community brand ambassador,” told her crew: “This is your opportunity to tell cops what to do!”
Lt. James Kazakos, who runs the Orange County Family Justice Center for the Anaheim PD, participated in his third Tip a Cop.
“Would you like a police escort?” Kazakos asked two women walking to their table.
Anaheim PD Lt. James Kazakos serves food to the Avila family from Stanton.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Kazakos make police siren sounds as he escorted the women and their three other companions to their table.
One lunch guest, a businessman from New Jersey, gave the APD a $100 tip.
In addition to the donations to Cops 4 Kids, CPK donated 20 percent of all food and alcohol sales to the program.
Lunch sales alone exceeded $5,000, said Morales, a former cadet with the Placentia Police Department who approached the APD about the CPK Tip a Cop idea several months ago.
“I’m a huge supporter of cops,” Morales, 25, said.
Querry, 32, who had never waited tables before, said he volunteered to participate in the Tip a Cop event because he’s a big supporter of Cops 4 Kids and he also wanted to get a feel for what food servers do.
He came away impressed with Miller’s skills as a food server — how she kept track of orders and kept smiling at guests throughout the busy night shift.
And Miller, 23, was equally impressed with Querry.
“You did good!” she said to him.
Anaheim PD Deputy Chief Julian Harvey talks to Anaheim PD explorers on hand for the Tip A Cop fundraiser for Cops 4 Kids.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Cathy Dutton, director of sales at Clarion Hotel Anaheim Resort, is Cops 4 Kids board member.
Sipping on a pinot noir and snacking on chips and artichoke dip, Dutton, an Anaheim resident for more than 50 years, said the APD’s police explorers program was a game changer for her then teenage son, Brian.
“He could have gone either way,” Dutton said of her son’s future.
The explorer program, she said, got him on the right path.
She’s just as impressed with Cops 4 Kids.
“It’s an amazing organization that really is filling a gap,” Dutton said.
Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada gets a big hug from Maria Rivas of Anaheim. Maria, whose apartment burned down on Mother’s Day a year ago, displacing her and her family, received donations and other help from individuals at the APD that helped get them back on their feet.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Anaheim PD Dispatch Supervisor Steven Querry delivers pizza during the Tip A Cop fundraiser.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
