Emma Soto is a fighter.
For most of her life, the 7-year-old has battled leukemia, but on Thursday, she became the Metropolitan Police Department’s newest recruit, fighting crime and taking down bad guys at the department’s state-of-the-art training facility.
Emma’s dream to become a police officer was the 3,000th request granted by Make-A-Wish.
For her wish, Emma was fitted for her own personal uniform, which she accessorized on Thursday with pink Nikes and blue metallic streaks in her hair. That afternoon, she underwent weapons training at Metro’s Joint Emergency Training Institute. Later, she accompanied patrol officers in a simulated scenario involving the targeting and arrest of a fictional donut thief named Mr. Sprinkles.
‘The strongest person I know’
Make-A-Wish representatives said that the organization’s first granted wish was also for a child who wanted to be a police officer.
Emma’s father, Max Soto, said she initially considered a trip to Hawaii to meet her favorite Disney Princess, Moana, but quickly changed her mind.
After Emma’s first assignment, a helicopter ride overlooking Metro’s shooting range, she and her father held a news conference in one of the training center’s classrooms. There, she told reporters why she wanted to be an officer.
“I want to save people and protect my family,” Emma said, grinning.
Her father said he was speechless seeing Emma in action. He reflected on the difficult medical journey they’ve shared since she was three.
“To see her go from almost losing her life, her body starting to shut down, to looking like nothing ever happened,” Soto said. “It’s only by the grace of God. I’m grateful to God first, and then to the doctors and nurses who took care of her.”
He added: “Shes the strongest person I know.”
Mat and VR training
Emma, who has practiced Jiu-Jitsu for about two years, then went to the “mat room,” where training officer David Torres gave her a holster and reviewed firearm safety rules with her. He reminded her not to touch the trigger until ready to fire and always to assume the gun is loaded.
Torres then gave Emma a prop gun and, with the help of another officer posing as an unruly suspect, showed her how to stop and arrest a person of interest. After watching Torres do it once, the girl repeated the process with ease.
She yelled “higher” when the suspect did not raise his arms to her satisfaction and, once he was on the ground, confidently placed her knee on his lower back as she tightened handcuffs.
In another scenario, she also tased and water-sprayed, instead of pepper-sprayed, the pretend suspect, who wore protective gear around his body.
Afterward, she completed virtual reality training in which she was tasked with using the taser on zombie-like figures in a game. At the end, Torres told her that she would have to use her new skills to stop a man whom Metro had connected to a series of donut shop robberies in the valley.
Emma replied, “I’m ready.”
‘Remarkably inspiring’
Next, she and her partner, Officer Christopher Lee, were picked up for patrol in one of Metro’s Tesla Cybertrucks.
“Takedown,” a song from the Netflix animated movie K-Pop Demon Hunters, played on a radio the duo shared as they sped off to catch Mr. Sprinkles.
They ended their pursuit at a movie-set-like building on the training campus, where they found the suspect devouring a large chocolate donut in front of a replica of the MGM Grand. Emma jumped out of the vehicle, issuing commands for him to stop before arresting him. When she recited his Miranda rights, a crowd of observing officers and Make-A-Wish staff cheered.
Scott Rosenzweig, the CEO and president of Make-A-Wish, said that it takes a village to grant a wish and a community to keep kids hopeful. Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who had spent time with Emma and her family earlier that day, echoed the sentiment.
“It’s really important for all the police officers in the room and for our community to understand that there’s a lot more good in the world than there is bad,” McMahill said. “And when you see that through Emma’s eyes, it’s remarkably inspiring.”
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
