Yes, it does happen, but these are the stories that never seem to make the media…

Police give young mom a helping hand after shoplifting accusation

by Ashley B. Craig

Charleston Daily Mail staff

Charleston Patrolman Ryan Williard and Detective Duane Fields helped a struggling mother accused of shoplifting at the Patrick Street K-Mart.

What started as an ordinary shoplifting call turned in to something more for two Charleston police officers.

Patrolmen Ryan Willard and Duane Fields were dispatched July 30 to K-Mart at the PatrickStreetPlaza to look into a shoplifting. They spoke to the loss prevention officer when they arrived and then were led to a room inside the store.

There they found a young woman and her two young daughters – a 7- or 8-year-old and a 2-year-old who was still in diapers.

When they learned what the woman had tried to take from the store, their hearts went out to her.

“She didn’t take anything to benefit herself,” Willard said. “She had only taken baby diapers, rash cream and some clothes for her children, ’cause she said she was going through kind of a rough divorce and her husband wasn’t really helping out.”

Willard, 24, and Fields, 34, talked about the situation with each other and then with the loss prevention officer.

“I just felt bad for her,” Fields said. “I’ve got kids at home.”

Fields, a father of two who just made detective, offered to buy diapers and rash cream for the baby and Willard took her and the children into the store to pick out a couple of outfits, shoes and socks.

“You could tell she was just down on her luck, and it’s good for the police to be able to show people that we’re just normal just like them and that we can step out of our boundaries and help in their time of need as well.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Kudos to them!