AZ law enforcement sends a special package to a special boy

A young boy’s love for law enforcement has spread. Many around the world are responding back, including here in Arizona.

Brandon Winans is a 12-year-old boy with autism from Texas, whose fascination with police and firefighters turned into a collection of patches. He has 1,755 patches from around the country, including 85 challenge coins. Law enforcement agencies mail him goodies as well. His mother Misty Winans said the package they recently received may have been the first one from Arizona. In it, Quartzsite Police Department mailed him mugs, a t-shirt, a hat, an honorary junior police officer certificate, and more. You can view part of the video that shows Brandon opening the package above or click here to see part of the video. “Thank you so much Officer Hilario Tanakeyowma, of Quartzsite Arizona police department, for the package! B loves it! Thanks to Chief Ponce and the Arizona Automobile Theft Authority,” Brandon and his family stated on Facebook.

Misty stated to KSWT that they’ve also received a few packages from California as well. She remembers one in particular from the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. “He gets a lot of hats, but that one is his favorite. LOL. Just picture him walking around with LA County Coroner on his hat. It’s funny,” she stated.

The patches are placed around Brandon’s home and he also places them in large binders. Brandon started collecting in January of 2017. Whenever he was in the car and saw a police officer pulled over, he would get excited and want to pullover to say hi to them. He received his first patch from Chief Stanford at Bridgeport Police Department. On another day, a firefighter at their church overheard a conversation about Brandon’s love for the patch he received, so he went and gave a firefighter patch to Brandon as well. On Facebook, his family stated that, “… trying to get an autistic child to do something isn’t an easy task. Since he started going out collecting patches, he has started to WANT to do things. Now he is in acting classes at Casa Manana, swim classes at fit n wise, Special Olympics track and field, Outward Adventurers parties, and Special Needs Baseball… Y’all are making him the happiest boy on Earth! So thanks again to everyone for helping him fill his walls with patches. He says he wants to get a bajillion patches!”

Some photos are posted below. You can also check out more of Brandon’s collection on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Brandonspatches/