Every single day, police officers go out of their way to serve the community. Of course, they do their jobs — pulling over speeding drivers, responding to crimes, and making sure people in the area feel safe — but they also go above and beyond in certain situations.
Recently, a police officer in Auckland got a call about a difficult customer at a bank. When he responded to the bank, he was surprised to find that the “disturbance” was an upset, elderly man.
The man’s cards were all in a mess and it took him a long time to find his identification card, only to find out it had expired. The bank couldn’t access his account and when they told the elderly man, he got upset, and the bank managers called the police. Luckily, the officer who responded had a huge heart and knew exactly what to do.
The police department explained:
Earlier today, officers responded to the bank regarding a patron who was causing a disturbance.
Upon officers’ arrival, they discovered that a 92-year-old man was trying to withdraw money from his account, however, his documents were all a mess and his driver licence expired. Per the bank’s policy, because his licence was expired, they were unable to fulfill his request. The gentleman was upset, and the police were called.
Once officers arrived, Officer Horace Ryan decided to take the man to the AA Centre in town to help him renew his driver licence. With the assistance of the AA Centre, his licence was renewed, and the police officer stopped at a local office supplies store and got him a special wallet so he could have all his cards in one place and in order.
After taking the time to help him organize all his cards, the officer took the elderly man back to the bank, at which time he was able to withdraw money from his account. He thanked Officer Ryan and went on his way.
People were blown away by the officer’s kindness and the story flew via social media, receiving many comments.
One person wrote, “Thank you officer Ryan!!! You stepped outside the box to resolve the issue. Great to hear the outstanding work done by the police.”
Another person wrote: “Now that’s how you solve a problem. Many people do not want to get involved. But once you are aware of the problem, you are involved.
This is what it means to serve the community. It may not be part of his job responsibility, or above or below his pay grade; but he made it happen. I love people like this.”
We contacted the officer for his response, and he said: “I only did the right thing to do. The man clearly needed help and a clever way to organize his things, which isn’t easy at his age.”
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