Taming ferocious fears
Bryce Alderton
Four years ago Huntington Beach Police Officer Dave Humphreys went out
to a traffic collision involving a mother who was taking her two small
children to school.
Her son was injured and her 8-year-old daughter was visibly shocked
and upset. It was a perfect opportunity to use his secret weapon.
Officers call it the Bear-In-Trunk Program.
For 20 years officers with the Huntington Beach Police Department have
taken the furry companions with them when they investigate crimes ranging
from domestic violence to traffic collisions.
Humphreys, an 18-year veteran of the force, remembers the accident at
Newland Street and Warner Avenue as the ideal opportunity to use a bit of
his happiness arsenal.
“She was certainly traumatized,” Humphreys said of the young girl.
“[Giving her the bear] spun her whole life there for a moment. You see a
new face on children. It’s a great feeling to redirect their fear and
make a happier moment for them.”
The program has plugged along quietly for years, those who knew about
it have usually earned the knowledge the hard way.
But administrators at Vista View Middle School recently broughtthe
program to the attention of their students to teach them a valuable
lesson.
Normally, the Huntington Beach Assistance League provides bears to the
police department, but the stock jumped since the program appeared on
Vista View’s radar.
School officials decided on holding fund-raisers to buy bears in
recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Teddy Bear, and to teach
students about helping in the community, said Principal Katherine Bihr.
The school raised $1,000, and 75 bears to donate to the police
department, which now has about 130 bears in stock.
Officers keep those bears on hand when they head out to investigate a
crimes, said Sgt. Gary Meza.
“We could use more to give to kids. They’re comforting,” Meza said.
The Teddy Bear was named after President Theodore Roosevelt went on a
three-day bear hunt in 1902. On the second day of the hunt, a guide and
his hunting dog found a baby bear, which he tied to a tree and called
Roosevelt.
Roosevelt looked at the cub and refused to shoot it for sport.
Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman heard the story and drew a cartoon
for his newspaper.
In Germany, Margaret Steiff saw the cartoon and began making stuffed
bears to export to the United States, and the Teddy Bear was born.
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