MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — It was a week before Andrea Molenkamp's son's second birthday when she picked up the phone and called the Muskegon Heights Police Department with a simple request: Come help celebrate my son's birthday!
Little did she know the tradition that would be started.
Now, five years later, officers with MHPD just rang in Emerson's seventh birthday.
"He knows he gets to wake up and see the police officers," said Molenkamp. "They come down the street with the lights on, they all get out of the car, let him see the car and take pictures..."
It all started when Emerson said he wanted to become an officer when he was older.
Since officers were first dispatched to Emerson's birthday five years ago, a friendship has been created between the young boy and one particular officer, Sgt. David Anderson.
"He always comes and sees me on my birthday," said Emerson. "I wanna be just like him one day."
While Sgt. Anderson is a staple at these police birthday parties, he also takes the time to teach Emerson lessons.
"I'm going to teach him that this is about a life of service," said Sgt. Anderson. "And if he grows into that, I'm going to foster this idea. Maybe not police work, but a life of service is something that needs to be instilled in kids today."
Over the years, the officers have brought Emerson gifts. This year, he received donuts and what Sgt. Anderson describes as the closest thing to a LEGO police car they could find in time, among other things.
In years past, police officers gifted Emerson his very own police uniform shirt, so he can be just like them.
For now, as Emerson starts his seventh year, both he and the officers look forward to the next birthday they'll get to spend together.