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.