

A photo of a police officer being sworn in for his first day with the Greenville, North Carolina Police Department shows his infant son may already be following in daddy’s footsteps.

In an interview with Yahoo Parenting, Officer Phillip Haning says, “Family is important to me, so I wanted them to be there for the occasion. I know that, as a six-month-old, Nolan doesn’t understand what’s going on, but he’s a big part of my life so it was important to have him there.”

When Haning’s new police department shared the photo on their Facebook page, little Nolan was an instant hit. Doing what 6-month olds usually do, he is seen sleeping soundly in his car seat, while raising his right hand. His father doing the same right in front of him.

“This was too cute not to share,” the department captioned the photo. “Recruiting young! It looks like his son is ready to join the ranks as well!” Still too early to say whether his baby will go into law enforcement, but the fact that he was dressed in blue is a good sign, Haning said.

The photo clearly struck a chord with folks on social media, Haning thinks, because people forget sometimes that cops can be family men too. “People look at police officers like robots, like there are no feelings or emotions to the job,” the 33-year-old officer says.

Haning says after spending the last six months in the police academy, he was excited to have such a positive start to his career. “It’s nice that everyone was so accepting of the picture,” he says. “It was a good first day.”