“Officer Buckle and Gloria” is an award-winning book that has charmed little kids for years, but when a real-life police officer reads the story about Gloria the police dog to a class of young students they tend to become downright riveted.

Through an outreach program dubbed Books & Badges, officers from the Amarillo College Police Department (ACPD) have been reading that book and others to enthusiastic young audiences comprised so far of pre-k, kindergarten and first-grade students at Hamlet Elementary School.