(Seguin) – The Seguin Police Department is introducing its newest rookie.
He’s 12-year-old Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel.
Officer Daniel lives in Houston and was in town Wednesday morning for his swearing-in ceremony at the Seguin PD.
When he was six years old, Daniel was diagnosed with brain and spine cancer and told he had only months to live. Now, more than half his life later, Daniel continues his own fight against cancer by growing his servant’s heart. His goal is to be sworn in with as many law enforcement agencies as possible in the state of Texas and across the country.
In fact, not only is he one of Seguin’s finest, but he was also sworn in as an honorary deputy with the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office.
Leaving Seguin and Guadalupe County, Daniel is now officially a member of 816 agencies.
Accompanying him on this journey and providing more insight into his son’s journey is his father, Theodis Daniel.
“He says well, the police gave me pizza when we were in Hurricane Harvey and I got tired of eating those salty MRE’s (meals ready to eat) and during that moment in our life when it was just traumatic and tragic for everyone, that pizza was something else and he never forgot that so when six or seven months later, we found out that he had stage 3 — at the time stage 2 terminal brain cancer – he said well, I want to be a police officer and I want to thank the officers that gave us the pizza and that’s how we have been running. He wanted to do 100 at first and then he was supposed to meet some other kids that were honorary officers, but they passed, so he was paying homage to them because I told him ‘look, as long as someone speaks your name, you get the breath of life back into you. Nobody will forget you.’ So, he does that. I have driven around all the United States — a raggedy truck ticking and knocking and all but we get there and come back.
We don’t get paid for it. I don’t even care to be taking pictures or nothing and he knows it’s all about him – his story, his journey to motivate and inspire and empower people, “said Theodis.
Daniel, who was even outfitted with his own pint-size Seguin PD uniform, stood bravely as Seguin Police Chief Jason Brady administered him the oath of office. However, the seriousness quickly wared off as Daniel showcased his most inspiring personality trait – humor.
Cracking jokes and working the room to reel in smiles and laughs are all tools that have been encouraged by his father, who knew that inner happiness would be his son’s ultimate medicine.
“That’s all he wants to do is just be happy. That’s all you have to do. Being happy is like oil in your car. If you put that cheap SAE oil, then you are going to clog up. But if you put that good ole synthetic in there with a little additive, you are going to last a little while longer and right now, he’s got a situation where his medicine is in a national shortage and the irony is that Devarjaye is the study for the medicine and they don’t have enough so when they cut the potency down on it, he has been having memory problems lately and it’s killing me. It’s killing me. It hurts me bad, but I challenge him everyday and the same thing with the other parents that are dealing with this, let your child live. Don’t baby them. Let them go. Let them do whatever they want. Live, enjoy and inspire someone,” said Theodis.
When asked about his experience at the Seguin PD, Daniel noted that it was undoubtedly his favorite one thus far. Diving deeper into his own quest for fighting the good fight, the 12-year-old says his purpose has already been defined.
“I’m going to be honest. On my 11th brain surgery, I saw God. This is how it goes… I was on a cloud. God told me to come over there. I said no for some reason. I finally went over there. He gave me two words. He said I’m doing God’s work and that I am an angel,” said Daniel.
Although it’s Daniel’s journey, Chief Brady believes it’s the officers who also leave with something special.
“Really at the end of the day, it is a little selfish. It is for us because to see a young man who has limited time, and he chooses his time – like I said – he’s honoring us. Public safety, law enforcement is important to him and it’s no secret that our profession the last decade has been under attack. Morale a lot of times is hard to find in some agencies and you see something like that, and it just reminds you why we do what we do. It’s really uplifting to see,” said Brady.
And just like Daniel’s interest in law enforcement was inspired by that pizza following Hurricane Harvey, Brady believes that all officers are capable of the same thing.
“This is why we preach community policing and it’s not always some grand scheme or some complex community project – just kindness. Just things we don’t even think of. Like maybe that officer didn’t think twice about it but just offering some kindness — seeing people that are in unfortunate circumstances and trying to relate with them, trying to just offer a little comfort, a little food, a little encouragement, and people remember that especially if you are young and someone is in uniform, I think it makes an impression. Again, I think that serves as a good example to my officers that things they do out there, they may not realize. They may be having a bad day. They may have just come from a call where there was a disturbance and things were escalated but you’ve got to wipe that slate clean and every time you contact somebody, it is a new start and it’s a new opportunity. Some officer somewhere changed this young man’s life and I hope our officers are able to do that throughout their careers,” said Brady.
Also honored to swear him in on the county level was Joshua Ray, the chief deputy for the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office. Ray says Daniel is a prime example of courage.
“It shows his servant heart which is exactly what we look for in law enforcement. I’m really proud of him that he is willing to make that kind of commitment. That shows you his character and you got a little taste of his personality so that fits in really well with law enforcement, right? Because we are quick to take jokes and joke with each other and what not. This is a hard job, and we see some hard things and it takes a toll on you because they are people but people like DJ are the reason, we do what we do so it is a good reminder of who we are and why we got into this profession to begin with,” said Ray.
With Seguin and Guadalupe County now under his belt, the pre-teen says he is ready for even more visits to law enforcement agencies and hopes to reach 1,000 in hopes of officially being recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
