Community Corner
Hopscotch Cop: Watch Officer Put on Show for Homeless Girl
From tea parties to hopscotch, Huntington Beach Police Officer is the go-to man for getting through to kids in desperate situations.
This morning an officer checked on a suspicious occupied vehicle in the area of Graham and Edinger. During his investigation he learned the people in the vehicle were a mother and her 11 year old daughter and they had been living out of their car. The officer contacted our Homeless Task Force to help arrange housing. As the officer worked on housing arrangements with the mother, another officer on scene, Officer Pricer, began displaying his expertise in hopscotch to the daughter. #Copslovehopscotch
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA — Huntington Beach Police Officer Zach Pricer plays a mean game of hopscotch.
But he’s also no slouch at tea parties, and he’s great with dolls.
It’s all skillset he developed to earn the trust of homeless children on his beat, and it’s on full display in a video that went viral overnight.
In the video, he’s playing hopscotch with an 11-year-old homeless girl to distract her as his partner works with her mom to get them off the streets Wednesday morning. Kids just shouldn’t be exposed to those kinds of grownup problems, said Pricer
“It just so happens she had drawn a hopscotch on sidewalk the day before along with eggs, a cross and ‘Happy Easter.’ So, I asked her if she wanted to play hopscotch with me, and she said, ‘yeah sure,'” Pricer said. “It kind of makes your heart melt. This is someone who had nothing. Her shoes’ soles were half off, but she loved them because they were pink. She was so thankful for everything she had.”
The game of hopscotch did what it was supposed to.
Pricer, who has a daughter nearly the same age, was able to put the girl at ease so that he could learn more about her situation.
“I think I gained her trust and was able to talk to her and establish where she was emotionally and physically,” he said. “She is very squared away. She’s very bright.”
Around the force, Pricer is known for his skill with kids.
“This is what he does,” said Officer Jennifer Marlatt. “He has the perfect personality for this.”
In recent years, Huntington Beach has experienced a spike in homelessness, prompting the creation of a Homeless Taskforce. Officers are tasked with interviewing homeless families and pairing them with resources to help get them back on their feet, said Marlatt.
Wednesday morning’s investigation began with a report of a suspicious vehicle by a neighborhood park, and responding officers quickly discovered a mother and daughter living in a van, Marlatt said.
Pricer’s partner went to work getting the mom the resources she’ll need for a safer living situation.
“That’s when Officer Pricer, began displaying his expertise in hopscotch to the daughter.”
Ten years on the force have taught Pricer how to take special care with kids.
“Dealing with children, I am not going to sit and tower over them and ask them how they are doing. It’s scary. The first thing I have to do is break the ice, and the best way to do that is to horse around,” he said. “If there was doll there, I would have been playing dolls. If she had a tea set, I would have been having a tea party.”
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Video and Photo courtesy of the Huntington Beach Police Department
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