On September 18, 2007, members of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department Air Operations Bureau flew down to the San Bernardino International Airport to attend the 9th annual Cops for Kids Fly-In. Transportation was provided by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department Aero Squadron who donated two airplanes and three pilots. The event was hosted by the Riverside Police Department, Riverside Sheriff’s Department, and San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, and co-hosted by the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department aviation and air support units.

The Cops for Kids Fly-In was started nine years ago and co-founded by Sacramento Sheriff’s Air Operations pilot, Deputy Jeff Werblun, then a pilot for the Riverside Police Department, and his flying partner, Riverside Police Pilot Don Miskulin. Cops for Kids Fly-In was started By Jeff and Don as a last minute small venture to visit a 9 year old cancer patient who was the daughter of a pilot from another police agency. Several other officers expressed an interest in going. 30 officers from several agencies went and brought enough toys for every child on the Oncology floor. So many toys were brought that there was enough toys left over for the play rooms. The impact left on the children and hospital staff during this first event led to the creating of Cops for Kids Fly-In, which has become a permanent fixture at the hospital.

The event is hosted once a year and invites law enforcement aviation and air support programs from all over the Southern California region to collect toys and other items as donations then fly the donations to the San Bernardino International Airport in their police helicopters and airplanes. The officers and toys are loaded into vehicles which caravan to the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital led by a police motorcycle escort. Three law enforcement helicopters land on the lawn at the hospital. The children, who are patients, and their families are greeted with hugs, smiles and gifts from the officers. The kids get to sit in the helicopters, on the police motorcycles and spend time with the officers. The event included mounted officers this year so the kids got to pet and sit on the police horses as well.

Inside the hospital, the children’s theater is turned into a large toy store. The children that are able to come to this room get to pick out several toys to keep and take back to their rooms. For the children than can not leave their hospital beds or rooms, squads of officers go room to room, floor to floor making sure each kid gets a visit and toy. The hospital has approximately 230 kids and each kid gets a visit and toy, even the babies.
Northern California Cops for Kids Fly-In

When Deputy Jeff Werblun moved back to Sacramento in 2001, his goal was to bring the Cops for Kids Fly-In to Northern California. In 2005, the first annual Northern California Cops for Kids Fly-In took place and benefited the UC Davis Children’s and Shriners Children’s Hospital of Northern California. The event was hosted by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the Sacramento Police Department Air Operations units. The Northern California event has been a huge success with an average of 120 officers and personnel attending from the Sacramento region, along with police motorcycles, SWAT armored cars, horses, K-9’s and of course the pilots and flight crews. We even had the U.S. Coast Guard land a C-130 airplane on our ramp and drive a van load of toys off the plane to the hospital. The hospitals are across the street from each other and our group visits both hospitals at the same time. The K-9’s go inside the hospital and jump in bed with the kids and give lots of licks. As in Southern California, our organization has become a fixture in both hospitals and the largest visiting group. We also visit and have toys for the pediatric ICU and emergency rooms as well.

We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary at the Southern California Event scheduled for September 16, 2008 and the 3rd annual Northern California Event in Sacramento on June 4, 2008.

Cops for Kids Fly-In is the largest single group that visits the hospitals every year. Our group is able to provide toys, gifts and visits for every child and their siblings and a surplus for new patients, play rooms and children or families in need. We operate strictly by donations that allow us to make sure we obtain items the hospital needs for their staff and child life programs. We also try to grant special wishes for certain children the hospitals bring to our attention. We need your support and accept financial contributions. Cops for Kids Fly-In is a non profit 503 (c) charitable organization, tax ID number 33-0946626.

If you are interested in making a donation to Cops for Kids Fly-in, you may do so by clicking on the donation button below to. Please indicate in the "contact information" section that this donation is for Cops for Kids Fly-in.