Behind the Badge
After Officer Tony Carlson from the Tallahassee Police Department responded to a call, he noticed a homeless man named Phil attempting to shave his beard.
Carlson saw that Phil didn’t have a mirror and was having a hard time using the razor so he went over to see if he could help.
“I like to think of us more as peace officers first, law enforcement officers second,” Carlson said. “You go to a scene and you try to resolve it with a positive ending.”
Phil told Carlson he wanted to apply for a job at a nearby McDonald’s but he needed to be clean shaven first.
“If he’s wanting to help himself, I need to be more than helpful and try to help him out the best I can,” Carlson said.
Carlson tightened a screw on the razor and shaved Phil’s beard for him.
After Phil’s interview, Raphael Vasquez, the owner of that McDonald’s, told TODAY that as long as Phil could provide an ID or social security card, he would get the job.
Carlson brought some good news to Phil a few days later. While leaving a restaurant with his family, Carlson had noticed Phil sitting under an overpass.
Senator Marco Rubio’s office had contacted the Tallahassee Police Department and offered to help Phil get his identification.
Carlson and Phil made an appointment at a local homeless shelter to process his identification documents. After Phil secured the proper identification, McDonald’s said Phil will be able to start performing janitorial work with room for growth.
According to the Tallahassee Police Department Facebook page, Phil had his first day of work at McDonald’s on July 27.
