Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer and one of the nation’s top employers, has set June 21 and 22 as the dates for Prime Day. The retailer’s annual, unofficial holiday is a heavyweight in merchandise, retail, media and advertising discounts and Amazon’s impact on local businesses and the environment.

As Prime Day approaches and throughout the holidays, local and national news channels will post “Best Prime Day Deals”, “5 Electronic Items NOT to Buy on Prime Day” and “How to Find the Best Deals Prime Day ”.

What you won’t find, however, are Prime Day-specific tips, offers, and ideas for police, firefighters, paramedics, paramedics, and correctional officers. To fill that small hole in Prime Day wall-to-wall coverage, here are 5 ways to leverage Prime Day for your service and community.

1. Boycott Prime Day. Buy local

Buying online is an opportunity, not an obligation. If you need something for your department, personal kit, or home, buy locally. Since all public safety is local, it pays to buy from your neighbors and support a vibrant local economy that puts people to work, keeps storefronts open, and invests profits in your city, your business. village or your city. Your community, I hope, has its versions of Frank’s material, Bike service in the points area and Tapped maple syrup, three small local businesses that I regularly support.

2. If you shop on Amazon, use an AmazonSmile link

As a consumer, your Amazon purchases can support a nonprofit organization by using an AmazonSmile link. Any purchase made through a smile.Amazon.com organization link returns 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the nonprofit organization. These charities accept AmazonSmile donations:

• National Foundation for Fallen Firefighters

• EMS National Memorial Foundation

• Peace Correctional Officers Foundation

Volunteer firefighters and EMS services, as well as foundations and ancillary organizations that support public safety services, are likely eligible to create an Amazon smile account. Look for the AmazonSmile Charitable Directory to find a charity you would like to support.

3. Create an Amazon wishlist

People in your community want to support your department and can buy things that your department needs. Consider creating a wishlist for:

• K9 police training aids, reward toys, bedding, treats and food

• Items in the officer’s personal first aid kit – tourniquets, bandages and gloves

• Toys and clothing for children displaced from their homes by fire, violence or natural disaster

• Personal hygiene supplies with specific items for homeless men, women and children

• Miscellaneous items, such as paper items, office supplies, cleaning supplies, and bulk snacks

• School supplies, sports equipment or toys for programs that connect public safety personnel with children in need

• Books, study guides and other material for students and cadets

the Clay Springs Pinedale Fire District has an open wishlist that includes department snacks, polo shirts, a corn hole set, and Visa gift cards. Articles K9 Viktor & Matt are looking for a heated water bowl, a training collar and a booster bath.

Need more ideas? Find out how the Horry County Police Department (SC) mobilized their community with a Amazon wishlist for making dozens of sensory kits to help those with sensory sensitivity.

Before creating a wishlist, make sure your department can accept in-kind donations.

4. Recommend books and movies

Use a social media post, blog post, or Prime Day press release to recommend books and movies that tell the story of public safety. Most people admire the work you do and want to know more. Share with them our lists of children’s books on the theme of firefighters, police-themed children’s books, EMS-themed children’s books, or make your own list.

You can also link to a book you’ve read recently that has inspired you as a leader, improved your skills as a public safety professional, or made you rethink how best to do your job. Three books I have read recently that have caused me to question assumptions about public safety training, the war on drugs, and community interaction are: “Tangled Up in Blue: American City PoliceBy Rosa Brooks; “Killing Season: dispatches from a paramedic on the front line of the opioid epidemic», By Peter Canning; and “The infinite game», By Simon Sinek. What books would you recommend to your community?

Amazon’s video shelves are full of real crime, drama, thriller, comedy, and documentary highlighting public safety. Your audience might enjoy our podcast on the best detective movies in history or the best crime shows in television history We also have must-see lists prison documentaries, better fire fighting movies and EMS movies of all time, or you can create your own list to share.

5. Great gift ideas for personal and community safety

There are millions of gadgets, gadgets and whatchamacallits for sale on Amazon. Instead of another trinket, recommend gifts that can improve personal and community safety. From bicycle helmets to tourniquets and first aid kits to share security alarms and doorbell cameras, you can find it on Amazon.com.

What’s your Prime Day plan? Are you skipping Prime Day to buy local? Is Prime Day an opportunity to buy a new HDTV for the station day room or MREs for your bug out bag? What’s on your department’s Amazon wishlist? Drop me a note to discuss Prime Day or the creative ways your service is making up for budget cuts and revenue cuts.