Every day, when 85-year-old Berenice Benson steps into the lift at her Canberra nursing home, she is transported to New York city.

Photos of the famous skyline cover the elevator walls. For Ms Benson, who spent much of her life travelling Europe, the Big Apple remains the one city she's always wanted to visit.

Uniting Care Mirinjani retirement village has granted a lifelong wish for resident Berenice Benson to meet a real New York city cop, Detective Howard Shank. Credit:karleen minney

"I never got to go, it's my dream, I'd love to meet a real New York policeman," she regularly tells staff at Uniting Mirinjani​ aged care.

"Just the idea of strolling through the streets of New York and asking a policeman for directions to the nearest coffee shop."