HARLINGEN – Neo Martinez was all smiles this morning as he ran one of Harlingen’s biggest departments, the police department, for a few hours.
Then 10-year-old boy suffers from osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and has been out of school since his diagnosis in March. This morning his classmates, school and city officials, and officers from the Harlingen Police Department all cheered him on as he was sworn in as chief of police for the day.
Once he was sworn in, Neo was escorted to the police department where he met with the executive team.
There, he conducted a meeting with executive staff, approving agenda items and received updates from his commanding officers.
What came next was what he was really looking forward to, a traffic stop. With the help of Sgt. Alfredo Alvear, Neo conducted a full traffic stop on a willing participant, complete with an arrest as a result of the driver having an improper license.
Neo closed out his reign with a short press conference with local media and lunch at Chick-Fil-a with all his fellow officers.
