Indian Hills Elementary students write letters to Boise police officers
“Dear K-9 officer, you are a wonderful K-9 dog. You are a wonderful dog that protects us.”
“Dear officer, my name is Ike. I’m sorry that you got hurt. I hope you feel better soon.”
“Dear officer, I hope you get better soon. Thank you for taking care of our community.”
Those are excerpts from just a few of the letters written to Boise police officers. The letters were written by Mrs. Brown’s 3rd grade class at Indian Hills Elementary in Pocatello.
Last Friday, two Boise police officers and a K-9 officer were shot and seriously injured in the line of duty.
There are 23 students in Mrs. Brown’s class. Each student wrote two letters – one for one of the human officers injured and the other for the K-9 officer.
The kids said they enjoyed writing the letters. They said the police help them so they wanted to give back.
“I decided to write to the K-9 officer because he’s a sweet dog and he protects us and he helps everyone that needs help,” said Libby Coffin, one of Mrs. Brown’s students.
“I”m glad that they take care of our community and I just like them so much,” said Clara Brown, another student.
“I’m pretty scared because I don’t know what they’re going to think,” said Iyrek Mackinnon, another student. “But I’m pretty excited and scared at the same time.”
Amy Brown said her class has been talking about the importance of community. She said while Boise police isn’t our direct community, it’s still a part of our state, which is still a community. She said her class has been learning about being a light during tough times. Brown said her students have also been working on their letter writing so this was just the perfect project.
“The things and kindness and just what they were able to put on paper, and even their writing skills, people noticed and I was really proud of them,” Brown said.
The kids just hope their letters will help.
“I think they’ll be proud because people love police officers because they help us,” Coffin said.
“I hope you have a spectacular Thanksgiving.”
“Have a great Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.”
Most students ended their letters with well wishes for the holidays.
The students sent the letters off to Boise at the end of the school day.
We learned Thursday afternoon, after meeting with the students, that the K-9 dog, Jardo, took a turn for the worse and passed away late Wednesday night. Currently, both human officers are doing okay and are still recovering.