A drizzly and cool morning did little to dampen the spirits at Walmart on Saturday morning — not with the annual Shop With a Cop in the store.

The Hinesville Police Department took over the lawn and garden section for its annual Shop With a Cop,

with wide-eyed youngsters accompanying even some sleepy-eyed officers just coming off the night shift who couldn’t wait to take their charges shopping.

Even HPD community resource officer Bryan Wolfe, who spearheads the program, wasn’t sure who gets more fun out of it — the kids or the officers.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “This is the most popular program for our officers. If they’re not working or sleeping, they’re here.”

Of the department’s nearly 75 officers, about four dozen were on hand Saturday morning.

“Even some officers who came off shift last night are here,” said HPD Chief Lloyd Slater.

Throughout the morning, officers were scheduled to escort 171 kids from 59 different families to do their Christmas shopping. To identify which kids take part, the department sends out criteria to the schools, who send Wolfe a list in late November nominating kids.

Some are children from the domestic violence shelter. Still others are picked by officers who take note of a family’s situation when answering a call.

Chief Slater said it’s hard to tell who enjoys the experience more, the kids or his officers. The kids are a little hesitant at first, he pointed out, but quickly warm up to the men and women in blue.

“You can’t replace those smiles,” he said. “As soon as they get into the process and start seeing the toys, they get into a different persona. The smiles turn into laughter and they just have an overall great time.”

The chief also extended his thanks to the community and the support the program gets in order to provide toys and more for the kids.

“We couldn’t do any of this without the support of the community,” he said. “Between the officers, between the community and between the support of just everybody for this event, we couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s been great. It really has been.”