SACO — It took just four days for Samantha Benson to collect all 50 Saco Police cop cards. Now she’s one of 14 area youth with a full collection of the baseball card-style police officer training cards ”“ and a winner in the 2013 Cop Card Collection Contest.

Last July, the police department kicked off the contest with the help of sponsor Prime Motor Group. The collection includes cards for all the police officers and staff, as well as cards of the police station, a patrol car and a badge, and a card depicting Ira Rosenberg, president of Prime Motor Group.

Rosenberg pledged $50 to the first 50 Saco students in the first through sixth grades who collected the whole series and had it verified. Detective Kenneth Foss said the 14 young people were all entered into a drawing, and six lucky winners ”“ Benson as well as Jack Boudreau, Nicholas Hunt, Christopher Hampton, Danielle Johnson and Mark Butts ”“ won a season pass to Funtown/Splashtown USA.

“We were doing all shifts, as many as we could,” said Benson, 12, a student at Saco Middle School.

With the help of her grandmother, she went to the Saco police station at different times ”“ as early as 6:30 a.m. or as late as 10:30 p.m. to catch different police department staff.

Benson said it took a lot of effort, but her grandmother taught her to never give up and always believe in herself.

“This is something she really wanted to do,” said her grandmother, Donna Benson. “I support her in everything she wants to be part of.”

Samantha Benson said she finds police work interesting because police help and protect people, and she enjoyed meeting the police department staff.

“They’re really nice people, and they care about us,” she said, adding, “It’s a really hard job.”

Benson said she keeps her card collection in a special place, and she’s going to hang up the poster version of the cards she received so she can remember all the nice people she met.

“You guys really worked hard to collect these cards,” said Saco Police Chief Bradley Paul, when the students came to collect their prize Tuesday.

Paul said often times, children don’t meet police officers unless there is an accident or other emergency, and the cop card program is a good way for police to reach out to young people in the community.

“The best thing about the program for us, is that we get to meet you guys,” he told the students.

Foss said even though the contest is over, the department is still handing out cop cards to interested collectors, and he expressed “sincere gratitude” to Prime for its sponsorship of the program.

Foss advises people not to ask an officer for a cop card if they are busy on a traffic stop or conducting an investigation. He also said not to run into a street or after an officer for a cop card, but to wave from a safe location to get their attention and they will come over if they’re not busy.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.