The Peace Officer Code: "To serve and protect"

[ Officer Gaetano Acerra]
oped: Now this is a refreshing story about a Police Officer who takes his oath of office serious and abides by the Peace Officers Code...we have been seeing way to many stories nationally about police abuse and Swat units within way too many Law Enforcement agencies...We need a return to a little more Andy Griffith and rid our departments of Rambo types! 

via: Officer.com
A Sumter, S.C. police officer recently went above and beyond the call of duty for a 13-year-old boy.
Last month, Cameron Simmons called police because he was upset after fighting with his mother and didn't want to live in the house with his family, according to WIS-TV.
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Officer Gaetano Acerra responded to the call and tried to talk to him.
"I said, 'You have it good, you have a roof over your head,' " Acerra told the news station. "I told him I would try to help him out, and here we are now."
The officer brought him home, but soon realized some of the boy's hardships. Simmons didn't have a real bed or furniture for his bedroom.
"My heart went out for him. I thought the little things that he needed I could give him; to make him a happier kid."

A few weeks after the call, the officer showed up at Simmons' home with a truck-full of gifts including a bed, TV, desk, chair and a Wii game system that someone donated after hearing the boy's story.
Simmons, who was sleeping on an inflatable mattress, told Acerra that because of the new bed his back won't hurt anymore and was grateful for the gifts.
Acerra gave the boy his cell phone number and plans to bring him more furniture, including a dresser and a mirror.

WIS-TV tracked down the officer and the boy after seeing of a photo of the two that Acerra's older brother, Ferdinando, posted on Facebook.
"I didn't do this for publicity or to get people to notice me," Acerra said. "I did it because I could. It was the right thing to do and I think people should do things like this."