After a tough day at work, Columbus Division of Police Community Liaison Officer James Poole (20 Precinct) was driving through a neighborhood on the Far East Side. He saw a little boy looking at him, so he smiled and waved. The little boy grinned back and said, "I wanna be like you when I grow up!"
"You do?!" he replied. "Here I have some things for you." Ofc Poole parked his car and jumped out to give him some stickers. (The CLO's have all the cool stuff.) "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"I have a baby sister and a brother. He's 12."
"Would you and your brother like one of these backpacks?" Ofc Poole pulled out the AEP Ohio backpacks he had left from Cops and Barbers. The boy said he'd love one and that blue is even his favorite color.
Ofc Poole bent down to show him what was inside and the boy exclaimed, "I need that!"
"You need what?"
"The pencils and paper! I need that!"
"There are books in here, too," he told the boy. "Do you like to read?"
"I do!"
Ofc Poole put his business card in each of the bags and told him to have his parents call him if they had any questions about where they came from. Then he fitted the blue backpack on the boy's shoulders and asked him, "Where should we put the other one?"
"On my handlebars! I put my backpack on there all the time."
Ofc Poole said the boy was very happy as he headed for home, and so was he. 💙
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