Byram cop, neighborhood kid shoot hoops
A woman with a cell phone caught an interaction between a police officer and a child that neither of them ever thought would go public.
On Tuesday, Amy Marie Bray posted to a Facebook page called "Real Talk ~ Byram" about seeing an officer patrolling her neighborhood, and he stopped on Lake Dockery Road when he saw a child playing basketball in a driveway.
"I wish my phone had the option to zoom while recording this amazing moment. This Byram, Mississippi Police Officer stopped his car while patrolling to play basketball with this young kid across the street from my house. It is truly a beautiful moment to witness," she wrote.
The officer, Keith Jordan, didn't know that she was watching.
Byram Police Chief Luke Thompson said he's proud of Jordan for getting out and interacting positively with the community, but that it's not the exception like sometimes people think it is.
"This is police work. This is a people business," he said. "This happens a lot more often than anybody realizes, just sometimes someone puts a camera on it. Our officers, I tell them all the time I expect them to be in the community, don’t just drive through it."
Thompson said that getting such an encounter on camera does help humanize the majority of officers in the country who are not making negative news.
"We’re all judged in the public by the actions of other officers, good and bad, so hopefully this kid will see other officers and think about that interaction," he said. "There are nearly 800,000 local law enforcement officers in this country, most of which you didn’t read about or see on the news last night because they’re doing stuff like this, serving the community and serving those we’re chosen to protect."
RELATED: Ridgeland police labor for love for 'family '
SEE ALSO: Officer and child's friendship goes viral
Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
