Haverford Township’s Austin Pickering, 7, got special help this year at his school’s career dress up day, writes Chandler Lutz for CBS Philly.com.

Austin really wants to be a cop, so it’s no surprise that he wore a police officer uniform for career day.

“I was driving, just doing my routine checks, and I saw a little boy wearing a police officer uniform,” Haverford Police Officer Edward Mintzer said.

Austin told him he wanted to be a police officer.

“And I immediately flashed back to when I was his age, an officer stopping to talk to me and that positive interaction impacted my life.”

Mintzer let Pickering wear his hat, hit the sirens, and even wear his SWAT equipment.

Austin’s mom took pictures and posted the special moment on Facebook.

When Austin and his mom found out who the police officer was, they wanted to thank Officer Mintzer  for his kindness. Austin made his own thank you card and his family bought pretzels for the officer.

“It touched my soul being able to see it through a young child’s eyes,” Mintzer said. “It was an honor, and the honor was all mine.”

Read more about Officer Mintzer and Austin Pickering here.

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