It seems like every time a police officer makes the news, it's for something bad these days, and I hate that. Because most of these men and women — and canines — are doing things to keep us safe that most of us probably don't have the strength or bravery to do ourselves.
Our law enforcement officers are proof that heroes walk among us. I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I'm not going to walk toward some of the violent and precarious situations our police officers often find themselves having to handle.
With that in mind, I've run across several little news stories over the last week about cops doing positive things, and while I didn't think I could turn any one of them into a full column, I decided that including all of them might make for a nice, feel-good read on this Tuesday afternoon. So, without further ado...
UK Officer Steps In to Help in Nashville
Taylor Johanson of the Kent Police Department in the United Kingdom just happened to be on vacation in Nashville last week, when he drove by and saw something disturbing on the side of the interstate: a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officer had been pinned to the ground by another person, and that person had gotten their hands on the officer's holster and fired a round from his gun.
As it turns out, the MNPD officer, Peter Kinsey, had spotted a man walking down an exit ramp toward the interstate. He stopped to let him know that this is illegal, but the man kept going. So, he called for backup and got out of his car to confront him. Before back-up could arrive, the man tackled Kinsey and began fighting him. The British officer arrived on the scene after just getting off his flight and was able to pull the man off of Kinsey, while Kinsey used his taser to subdue him.
The man "was taken to jail and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and unlawfully being a pedestrian on the interstate system. He’s currently being held on a $77,000 bond, as well as charges from another county," reports Whiskey Riff.
Johanson may have very well saved Kinsey's life at a time when he didn't have to.
"It took me a second to realize what was going on, and then as I ran over, I could see the male on top of the officer assaulting him quite badly, so I decided to jump in and tackle him and take him off," Johanson, who said he was in town "to relax," said. "I know that feeling of waiting, when you can hear the sirens coming and it feels like the longest time. So to be able to speed that up and give him the help that he needed, it means a lot to me as well to be able to help."
An international THANK YOU at MNPD HQ today as Chief Drake & Officer Peter Kinsey expressed their sincere gratitude to @kent_police Sgt. Taylor Johanson. The British officer had just arrived in Nashville when he saw Kinsey in a fight & in trouble at I-440 & West End. pic.twitter.com/ocdscQr9D7
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) May 11, 2026
Jacksonville Police Officer Saves a Man in Crisis
Last month, Jacksonville police officer Antonio Richardson went above and beyond to help a man in crisis. The man was standing on the Dames Point Bridge, ready to jump and end it all.
Richardson, along with six other patrol officers, responded to the scene, but it was Richardson who spent at least 40 minutes talking and praying with the troubled man.
"Whatever you're going through, man, you can get through it," he said, according to his bodycam footage. He later added, "Let's talk about it for a minute… You believe in prayer, I know that… Just touch my hand. Just touch my hand, man, I'm praying with you."
"If you jump, you're going to hurt other people. And they're going to be hurting just like you're hurting now. The cycle's gotta stop," Richardson said.
The man eventually walked away from the bridge and hugged the officer.
As it turns out, Richardson has three decades of ministry experience and said during an appearance on Fox News earlier this month that, "I just felt within myself that God was going to spare his life — and he did." He said that after it was all over, he just sat in his patrol car and called his wife and "wept like a baby."
Richardson said he'd only shown up to help stop traffic, but it seemed as if God truly put him in the right place at the right time.
Whatever you’re going through, you can get through it.
— Jax Sheriff's Office (@JSOPIO) April 29, 2026
Those are the words Officer Antonio Richardson shared with a young man on Sunday, April 12. The young man was on top of the Dames Point Bridge, ready to take his own life.
Our District 2 and 6 Patrol officers responded to… pic.twitter.com/SOpPqhPMax
Boomer the Police Dog Saves a 96-Year-Old Man
A 96-year-old Florida man disappeared from his home recently — a home located near a heavily wooded and swampy area just north of Tampa. Officials at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office called him a "missing and endangered person" and pulled out all of their resources to search for him.
But it wasn't one of the human officers who found him — it was Boomer, a member of the officers' K-9 unit.
Body cam footage shows an officer allowing Boomer to smell some of the missing man's belongings and telling him to go find him. The dog led the officer several hundred yards straight into the thick woods, where they found the elderly man safe and unharmed.
Good job, Boomer. We can't love dogs enough. The footage is pretty cool to watch:
A 96-year-old Florida man who disappeared from his home was safely found in a wooded area thanks to a K-9 search team. Deputies say “Boomer,” a sheriff’s office police dog, located Ray Cornett a few hundred yards from his home after an urgent search involving multiple specialty… pic.twitter.com/nYPs6Efpr2
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 12, 2026
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