Monday, January 9, is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (LEAD), and businesses are offering men and women in blue special deals to celebrate.
Dogtopia in Dallas offers law enforcement members 50% off their pet daycare charges on Monday.
Virtual Run Events has a run honoring law enforcement members around the world. Participants can run any distance, from a one-mile run to a marathon, and can do so anywhere in the country or in the world.
The entrance fee is $15.99 and includes a medal and bib. Fifteen percent of all the entrance fees will be donated to Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), a non-profit organization that partners with law enforcement and communities to help survivors and co-workers affected by line-of-duty deaths.
Those who are interested can do their run anytime in 2023.
Armor Coffee in Allen offers free coffee to all law enforcement members on January 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. A number of other local organizations and businesses also participate in Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.
C.O.P.S. is one of the leading organizations behind Law Enforcement Appreciation Day nationwide. The organization’s website states that the holiday fulfills “a need to show law enforcement officers that our citizens recognize the difficult and sometimes impossible career they have chosen, in public service to us all.”
C.O.P.S. recommends wearing blue to show your support of law enforcement or sending a card to your local police department. Most importantly, the organization recommends saying “thank you” if you see a police officer on Monday.
In Dallas alone, the police department numbers 3,640 sworn officers. The number of those honored on Law Enforcement Appreciation Day is substantially greater when departments across the metroplex are taken into account.
The holiday was founded in 2014 as a way to change the “negative portrayal of police officers in the news in recent years into a positive one.”