Police often become heroes by going by the book. But sometimes an officer becomes a hero in the community because he DIDN'T go by the book. In the small city of London, Kentucky, last month, Officer Justin Roby earned wide praise for being that second kind of hero. It all began when Roby was called to handle a shoplifting complaint at the local Kroger supermarket. The store's loss-prevention officer had detained a man for trying to shoplift. "What was he stealing?" Roby asked. "Baby formula," came the answer. At that point Roby's antennae went up, and he went to talk with the man. He found the suspect had recently fallen on hard times and didn't have the money to buy baby formula for his 6-month-old son. At that point Roby, who has a small son himself, made a judgment call. The store didn't want to press charges, and he decided not to pursue the incident. But then he took it to another level. He went to the formula aisle, bought a few cans and gave them to the man. He told him if he ever needed help again, to come to the police department, ask for help at local churches or take advantage of the county resources for those in need. "I didn't do anything that any one of us doesn't do all the time," Roby said. "It just usually doesn't get seen. We're not here to throw people in jail, we're here to serve the community. ... I hope someone would do the same for me if I was in that situation." Shortly after Roby's act of kindness, the local newspaper and Roby's boss got a letter from an impressed Kroger's customer. "Mr. Roby deserves recognition for having compassion..." the customer wrote, and Police Chief Derek House agreed. "It makes you proud," House said. "Our officers have hearts, too. I trust them to always do the right thing. Having a department full of people like Justin makes it a lot easier for me to sleep at night."

A TV interview with Officer Justin Roby can be found at PoliceOne.com

(Sources: The Sentinel Echo newspaper; WKYT-TV; PoliceOne.com)