What would you do for a free 7-Eleven Slurpee?

For kids in Suffolk, thanks to a partnership between the convenience store company and the local Sheriff’s Department, the question isn’t so much “What WOULD you do” as it is “What DID you do?”

The sheriff’s office is participating in 7-Eleven’s Operation Chill program, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The program distributes “tickets” for free Slurpees to law enforcement agencies, which can then hand them out to children law enforcement officers observe exhibiting good behavior or doing good deeds.

The program represents an opportunity for law enforcement officers to engage with kids and build relationships with them.

“I don’t think there’s anything more important right now for law enforcement to work on than our relationship of trust with our youth,” Maj. E.C. Harris said. “It seems like there’s a lack of trust in our youth with law enforcement in general.”

The sheriff’s office has 600 of the tickets and plans to distribute them throughout the year or as long as the supply lasts. The tickets are good through Dec. 31.

Harris said deputies will hand out coupons inside the courthouse and while out in the community serving civil paperwork, as well as at community events where deputies are participating.

Kids will receive their free Slurpee tickets for having done good deeds, for having exhibited good behaviors and for doing positive things in their community, like picking up trash and participating in neighborhood activities.

Kudos to 7-Eleven for contributing the coupons for this program and to the sheriff’s office for recognizing an opportunity to help build bridges with the young people in the community it serves.