6-year-old named honorary Sulphur Police Officer

SULPHUR, LA (KPLC) - One Sulphur Police Officer won’t be patrolling the streets tonight, he will actually be trick-or-treating.

Six-year-old Bentley Templet was deemed an Honorable Sulphur Police Officer on Tuesday Oct. 30.

Bentley Templet was diagnosed with spina bifida while still in utero.

“12 weeks into the pregnancy, we got a positive that he had spina bifida,” Tim Templet, Bently’s grandfather said. “So, it’s been challenging, but we have a big support group. He has a good support group.”

The birth-defect left him bound to a wheelchair. While some days are a struggle for Bentley, the Templet family wanted Bentley to forget about his worries on Halloween.

"'Cause he really likes it and it makes him feel special and he enjoys it,” Templet said.

The trend started two years ago when Bentley was a John Deer tractor. The next? An ice cream truck. This year, they went all out again.

“He wanted to be a police officer, wanted to have a police car,” Templet said.

When the Sulphur Police Department heard about Bentley on social media, Chief Lewis Coats says they knew they had to get involved.

“We wanted to make sure his Halloween and his costume and his car that his grandfather built him was just standing out and just awesome,” Coats said.

With their own money, multiple officers chipped in to get Bentley LED police lights for his new ride.

“He was having a blast with it. You know, whenever we have these little nuggets to help somebody to make their day or their Halloween experience a little better, we try to monopolize on that,” Coats said.

Bentley says he couldn’t have been happier to see real lights.

“It was cool because it has the lights; flash red and blue,” Bentley Templet said.

The department even made Bentley an honorary police officer.

“Bentley really loved it. He loved meeting all those guys, taking pictures, and the shirt making him an honorary Sulphur Police Officer,” Templet said.

Templet has joined an elite club of honorary members. Chief Coats says there are only about a dozen people named to the Sulphur Police Department.

Bentley says he is excited to show off his new ride tonight while trick-or-treating.

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