The Metro Academy Class 54 was honored at its recent graduation in Louisville, Kentucky, to have a special guest who has always wanted to be a police officer.
Eleven-year-old Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, a Texas native who has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer affecting his spine and brain loves everything that has to do with law enforcement, WHAS reported Friday.
Since 2022, he has been working hard to join as many agencies as he can in the role of honorary officer and had a goal of 100.
However, more than 690 agencies across the country have since sworn him in, including several that gathered last summer in Mercedes, Texas, Breitbart News reported.
“Officers with agencies from Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy counties swore the young man in on Wednesday at the Livestock Show Arena,” the outlet said.
At the time, his father, Theodis Daniel, explained it has always been the boy’s dream to be a policeman, adding, “He may not be able to get a chance to do it, but they are making it happen.”
In April, the New York City Police Department swore DJ in, and he had the time of his life visiting with officers:
His current goal is 758 agencies, a number that references another fellow honorary officer’s badge number, Abigail Arias, who passed away from pediatric cancer a few years ago.
Once officials with the LMPD swore him in as the honorary chief for Class 54, social media users expressed their joy over his accomplishment, one person writing, “Congratulations Chief DJ!!! Prayers for a full recovery.”
“Congratulations young man,” another commented.
In February last year, his father said that despite the boy’s diagnosis, he remains positive:
“He don’t let you know that he’s having bad days or anything like that. He don’t hold it back. He don’t use it. He doesn’t take it out on other people,” Daniel explained.