ROWLETT, Texas — “Nobody likes being the bad guy,” says Sgt. Vedran Nosic of the Rowlett Police Department. “Most of us got into this job to help people.”
Now there’s a system available to police departments to help people in their communities get some of what they need to move forward with their lives.
For seven years, Trusted World of Garland has been developing what founder Michael Garrett calls an “Amazon for nonprofits.” Trusted World has a warehouse-full of new clothing, footwear, toiletries and food, all pre-sorted.
A school counselor who finds a child or a family in need of clothing can place an order via computer with specific sizes and needs.
Each case is treated as an individual “customer” and gets a tracking number. The order is delivered to the school counsellor to give to the customer, be it child or family, in a matter of hours.
With the help of a computer program he wrote, Garrett has found a way to put the system in police cars.
Sgt. Nosic described a ground-breaking incident he recently experienced. He was called to a nearby mall where adults were accused of shoplifting. Their car license plate traced the couple to Rowlett.
After talking to them, he discovered they were after clothes for their children, and instead of arresting them Nosic gave them a warning and forwarded their needs to Trusted World.
“Within a day or two, we had delivered six bags of clothing,” Nosic said. “They said they’d never had a positive experience with the police.”
“It would be awesome if every (police) agency used Trusted World, “Nosic said.
“It’s been a phenomenal program,” said Rowlett police chief Michael Godfrey.
He’s placed a donation barrel in the lobby of police headquarters. TW’s Garrett stresses that every donated article of clothing goes through five quality check’s before being passed on to a customer.
After a house fire for example, Godfrey said, police can assess a family’s needs and often make a delivery the next day. Every individual within a household gets his or her individual order.
Trusted World’s Michael Garrett calls it “dignity in a bag.”
Rowlett and Plano police departments are now using the system, joining 500 schools and nonprofits that are partners.
To learn more about Trusted World and contribute to the program, click here.
