The Birmingham Police Department's motto is "Serving with Ethics and Effort."

Three Birmingham police officers added new meaning to the "serving" part of that motto when they stopped while on patrol to mow the yard for an elderly woman over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

North Precinct Officers Erik Henderson, Robert Lewis, and Ivy Nicole Jackson took turns mowing the yard of a woman late Sunday afternoon, according to a Facebook post.

Henderson said in an interview with AL.com on Monday that the officers try to keep an eye on elderly residents on their North Precinct beats, including conducting welfare checks.

Late Sunday afternoon, Officer Jackson was on patrol and saw the woman mowing her yard in the heat, Henderson said. "She (Jackson) notified us. We just came together and did it together," he said.

It took about two hours to complete as the officers took turns on the push mower, Henderson said.

By mowing the woman's yard it might have prevented a possible medical situation for her because of the extreme heat, Henderson said.

While it was the first time the three officers had mowed a lawn, all officers in Birmingham serve residents in similar fashion without any publicity or fanfare, Henderson said. "A lot of people don't like us but we're here to help," he said.

"You've got to be nice to people," Henderson said.

Henderson declined to give the name of the woman, who he estimated to be in her 70s.

The public information officer for the Birmingham Police Department responded to a request for comment about the officers' actions.

"Our officers on their own initiative do all types of wonderful things serving our citizens," said Lt. Sean Edwards.