Lubbock Pre-K Kid Shares Hero With School Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Leah Caswell, 4, brought her uncle, Lubbock Police Officer Jason Nuss, to her Pre-Kindergarten class for Career Day at Hardwick Elementary School. Photo Courtesy: Sara Caswell [ + - ] Video

LUBBOCK, TX - When a Lubbock Police Officer accompanied his 4 year old niece to Career Day at Hardwick Elementary School, neither expected a photo of the pair would be so memorable.

Officer Jason Nuss works the night shift for the Lubbock Police Department. His niece, Leah Caswell, 4, wanted him to join her for career day in her Pre-Kindergarten class at Hardwick Elementary.

Leah's mother Sara snapped a few photos of the pair in their matching uniforms before driving to school in Nuss' police cruiser.

When she posted the photo to Facebook, it was shared over 3,000 times in a week. Quite a surprise for the entire family.

"I was not expecting to get Facebook friend requests from complete strangers," said Nuss.

He said his goal was to show that police officers can have a strong, healthy, relationship with the community, in addition to doing a family favor.

"We're there for the greater good of the kids. Not to hurt the kids, make the kids sad, or take the kids to jail," said Nuss. "Ultimately it comes down to- all we really want to do is be there for people."

Lubbock Police Chief Greg Stevens applauded Leah's declaration that she wanted to be a police officer when she got older.

"[It's] great," he said. "How many girls that age 10, 20 years ago would have said that? Somewhere between early grade school and going up through elementary school, that interest, that desire, it begins to fade."

Stevens said the department plans on instating a tutoring program that matches officers with students, in an effort to strengthen the connection between the department and the community.

"Throughout her life, all the way from that age, through grade school, through middle school, develop opportunities for her so that people don't talk her out of that," Chief Stevens added. "Let's hold that interest until she can become a police officer."

Leah said the highlights of her day included using handcuffs, activating the police car's lights and sirens, and her favorite moment was "riding in the police car."