US state of Virginia
Eleven-year-old sworn in as honorary policeman by 53 police stations
Dream police officer: An eleven-year-old has now been honorary sworn in by 53 US agencies (symbolic photo)
Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel has cancer and ever since the police helped his family, his dream has been to become an honorary officer in as many police stations as possible.
An 11-year-old boy has been sworn in as a volunteer police officer for 53 different police departments in Quantico, Virginia. Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel was also made an honorary member of the Metropolitan Police in London at the ceremony at the FBI Academy – his first international award.
The honors have a sad background: Daniel is terminally ill with cancer, like his father Theodis on the show “Good Morning America” (“GMA”) of the broadcaster ABC told. Four years ago, his son was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma, a fast-growing brain and spine tumor, and his dream is to become an honorary police officer in as many departments as possible. This wish was triggered by an experience in 2017. At that time, three police officers would have helped the family a lot when they were made homeless by the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and had to flee temporarily to a mass emergency shelter in Houston, Texas.
“That first impression shaped all my boys, and now they’ve all been sworn in as honorary officers,” Theodis Daniel quoted as saying. And with the awards at Quantico, Devarjaye is now part of 743 police departments.
Daniel receives a specially made police badge
Adam Colon, police chief for the city of Franklin, Ohio, was one of 53 law enforcement executives honoring “DJ” Monday. Colon had a custom Franklin Police Division suit badge made for the boy, whom he described as “positive” and “full of energy and life” despite the cancer diagnosis.
“He has a lot of personality and I think it just makes him happy and [er] likes to make others happy, and that’s nice to see,” Colon told GMA of his impression of the boy.
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Lieutenant Josh Sanders of the Wheeling Police Department in Wheeling, West Virginia also honored “DJ”. “What we love to do is help people. So if we’re going to help this young man’s life [mit diesen Vereidigungszeremonien] “Being able to do something healthy is what we wanted,” Sanders said. He had dinner with “DJ”, his two brothers and the boy’s father and described the 11-year-old as a “riot maker” who likes to crack jokes. “The boy has a great temper. He’s a motivator. He’s an inspirer. He’s just pushing me to be a better person,” Sanders gushed.
He hopes that DJ’s story will inspire more kindness in the world, Theodis Daniel told GMA. “I hope this story inspires everyone in the nation, in the world, to be kind to one another.”
Sources: “Good Morning America”, WSMV 4