That day, a family arrived at the police station: a mother, a father, and their little daughter, no more than two years old. The girl’s eyes were swollen with tears, her face heavy with sadness. Her parents looked just as anxious, clearly unsure of what to do.
“Could we see a police officer?” the father asked the receptionist quietly.
“Excuse me, sir, I don’t quite understand… why have you come, and who do you want to see?” the man replied, surprised.
The father straightened his back and let out an uneasy sigh.
“You see… our daughter has been crying nonstop for days. Nothing calms her. She keeps saying she wants to see a police officer to confess a crime. She barely eats, she cries all the time, and she can’t really explain what’s wrong. I’m very sorry—it’s embarrassing—but… could an officer spare us a few minutes?”
One of the sergeants overheard the exchange. He walked over and crouched down to the little girl’s height.
“I have two minutes. How can I help you?”
“Thank you so much,” the father said with relief. “Sweetie, this is the police officer. Tell him what you wanted to say.”
The little girl studied the uniformed man, sniffled, and asked:
“Are you really a police officer?”
“Of course,” he smiled. “Look at the uniform, do you see it?”
The girl nodded.
“I… I committed a crime,” she stammered.
“Tell me about it,” the officer said calmly. “I’m a police officer, you can tell me everything.”
“And will you put me in jail afterwards?” she asked in a shaking voice.
“That depends on what you’ve done,” he replied gently.
The little girl couldn’t hold it in any longer. She burst into tears and suddenly blurted out the words that left everyone around completely shocked:
“I hit my brother on the leg… really hard. Now he has a bruise. And he’s going to die… I didn’t mean to. Please, don’t put me in jail…”
The officer froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but smile. He softly wrapped his arms around the sobbing child and whispered:
“No, sweetie. Your brother will be fine. Nobody dies from a bruise.”
The girl looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.
“Really?”
“Really. But you mustn’t do it again, okay?”
“Yes…”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise…”
The little girl wiped her tears, cuddled close to her mother, and for the first time in several days, a quiet calm settled back over the police station.
