"Cops and Lobsters" benefits Mo. Special Olympics
The Sheriff's Department, CPD and MUPD participate in the event.
Published April 9, 2010
Local law enforcement officers will be back bussing tables at the Red Lobster in Columbia. Thursday was the first of two days spent fundraising at the restaurant, and the event will continue April 15.
The annual event, dubbed "Cops and Lobsters," started as a way to raise money for the Missouri Special Olympics, a Boone County Sheriff's Department news release stated. The Missouri Special Olympics has 90,000 children and adults in the state of Missouri with mental disabilities participate in a variety of Olympic-style sporting events, the release stated.
Officers participating in the fundraiser will assist the restaurant's servers by bussing tables and serving sodas and water to customers. The event began nearly two decades ago, the news release stated.
"I've been here 17 years, and it seems like we've been doing it as long as I've been here," Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jessie Haden said in an e-mail.
The Sheriff's Department, CPD and the MU Police Department are all participating in the event, the news release stated.
"We have officers that go and sign up as waiters," MUPD Capt. Brian Weimer said.
Weimer said he did not know the exact number of MUPD officers participating in the event this year.
The Sheriff's Department, which is hosting the event this year, has four officers scheduled for the lunch and dinner hours during both days of the events. Sheriff Dwayne Carey was scheduled to work for Apr. 8 and Major Tom Reddin will be serving tables next Thursday.
Officer Jason McClintic is heading up CPD's role in this year's event. Typically, several CPD officers sign up, Haden said.
Patrons can buy caps and T-shirts or donate money by tipping the officer serving them, Reddin said.
"In years past, the lunch and dinner events have raised upwards of $3,000 per day," Reddin said. "It can be as much as $6,000 total over the two days, and that doesn't include funds that have been raised by the Torch Run event."
All funds raised will go to the Missouri Special Olympics.
"It's a public service where organizations can try to help out a very worthy cause," Reddin said.