By Alesha Capone
Five year-old Jamison Mitchell was overjoyed when a group of past and present police officers visited him earlier this month.
The police visited Jamison at his Point Cook home after a photo of the youngster paying tribute to the four police officers who died on the Eastern Freeway on April 22 – Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney – went viral on social media.
In the photo, which Jamison’s mother Susie Knight posted online, the youngster is wearing a police uniform and saluting next to a sign bearing the four officers’ names.
Jamison said he erected the sign out the front of his family’s home because he was sad about the deaths of the four police officers.
He said it was “fun” to meet the police officers when they visited him on May 1, accompanied by a highway patrol car and motorbike.
Jamison said he admired police “because they help people’s lives”.
The police officers who visited Jamison gave a Sergeant’s badge, hat, belt, toy dogs and money boxes.
“They even gave me a police lanyard to get into the clubrooms,” Jamison said.
Jamison, who can recite the phonetic alphabet used by emergency services, said he wanted to become a police officer in the future and hoped to join the Dog Squad along with his pet dog, Rottweiler Hudson.
Ms Knight said the family was “very grateful” to the police who visited Jamison.
Ms Knight said after Jamison’s photograph went viral, the family of Leading Senior Constable Taylor and partner of Constable Glen Humphris got in touch to express their thanks.
One of the police officers who visited Jamison, Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Anderson, said he and the other police officers were impressed by the five-year-old and his tribute.
“To come from someone at such a young age who has grasped and understood what happened and to pay tribute, I thought that was very special,” Acting Senior Sergeant Anderson said.
He said Jamison was a bit shy when the police first arrived at his family’s home but \the youngster soon began asking lots of questions.
