Police responded to Jack's request in style, issuing a message after seeing his sign in the backyard. Photo / Eastern District Police
Police responded to Jack's request in style, issuing a message after seeing his sign in the backyard. Photo / Eastern District Police
The Police Eagle helicopter unit has been praised for their kindness after a heartwarming response to a Hawke’s Bay boy’s unique plea.
Earlier this week young Jack had noticed the Police Eagle Helicopter out over the sky in Hawke’s Bay.
Wanting to show his love, he stood in his backyard waving up above. However, when he didn’t get a wave back, he decided he wanted to go one step further in a bid to get a response from the unit.
Taking to Facebook, a family member of Jack revealed how he uniquely captured their attention.
“When you keep waving and ‘they don’t wave back’, Mr 7 has an idea to make Eagle a sign for the backyard. We made it together, because he’s almost certain they know him on a first name basis,” they wrote.
In the post, a photo of Jack’s sign is visible. “Hi Eagle, it’s Jack,” the large sign read accompanied by what looked like to be a painted landing circle.
Jack's message to the police Eagle helicopter unit. Photo / Eastern District Police
What Jack didn’t know was that his sign was seen by those in the Eagle unit.
In a surprise for the young boy, police organised a special message from the team for Jack.
In a post to Eastern Distict Police’s social media, one of the Eagle pilots is pictured standing next to the chopper holding a piece of paper with a message specifically for Jack.
“Hi there Jack. Hope you have a great day. From the team at Eagle,” the pilot’s note said.
Locals responded to both the police and Jack’s heartwarming interaction, thanking them both.
“This is cute. I love when people make such a lovely effort,” one wrote.
Another said: “Love this. It’s the small gestures in life that sometimes have the biggest impact on someone else’s life. Great work team Eagle.”
Police responded to Jack's request in style, issuing a message after seeing his sign in the backyard. Photo / Eastern District Police
The police Eagle helicopter was deployed in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle to reassure residents following reports of looting and opportunistic crime.
Now locals are signing a petition for it to stay, saying they were worried about crime long before the storm, and would like to see it in use for longer.
“We’ve only in the last couple of years had our own satellite station set up here in Napier, but it has no cells, it’s not accessible to the public in the evening or night-time,” Napier resident Jules Cunningham said.
“Police spend a lot of their time commuting back and forth with criminals in the area, which means it’s more time they can’t spend on the ground.”
A petition calling for police to continue aerial monitoring over Hawke’s Bay has gained more than 800 signatures since Cunningham set it up on Sunday afternoon.
She said that was because locals had already noticed a reduction in crime in the past few weeks.
“Since Eagle has been here, in our immediate neighbourhood area ... teens and people roaming the streets in the middle of the night have virtually gone... it’s a marked difference, it’s a huge difference.”
