With most news outlets mainly focusing on controversy surrounding the police, it may be hard to find a story about the thousands of great things they do everyday that never get reported.
In London, Kentucky, one of these stories made it to the news. Responding to reports of a shoplifting at a supermarket, Officer Justin Roby found himself in an ehtical dilemna.
After analyizing the situation, Roby found that the man who had been caught stealing from the store was going through some hard times financially and wasn't just trying to make a quick buck. The man was in fact trying to take some baby formula for his six month old son.
"As a police officer, it's not black and white for us," said Officer Justin Roby. "There's a lot of gray. And you have to cipher through everything and you really need to figure out the whole story."
It probably helped the mans case that his child was with him at the time, single parents cant't exactly leave their infants alone at home. The store chose not to press charges and Officer Roby agreed.
"Me citing him for court wouldn't have done any good for him," he said. "He's already short on money, can't afford formula, so me making him appear in court, he's still not going to have any food for that baby."
He not only agreed, but Officer Roby paid for the formula himself and gave the man information on many organziations that could help him pay for food, including the poluce department.
"I think when [a lot of people] look at us, they see just the uniform and just the car, just the tools that we have on our belt," Roby said. "But behind the uniform, I'm a human being and I'm a person out in this community just like any of them. I have a little boy. I'm a father just like that gentleman was.
Officer Roby says a lot of people are struggling, and you do not have to be a police officer to offer a helping hand. Reports WKYT Kentucky.