Jacob Engram has always admired police officers; so much so that he wanted to make law enforcement a career.

“He has wanted to be a police officer since he was 10 years old,” his mother, Michelle Engram said. “He had an uncle who was a sheriff’s deputy in Ouachita Parish (La.) and his father has a cousin, Ronnie Ingram, who was an officer with the Vicksburg Police Department. They had a big influence on him.

“He attended a law enforcement class through Vicksburg High School at Hinds Vo-Tech taught by Officer Anthony Renfroe,” she said.

But Jacob was unable fulfill his dream. He was born with Apert Syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by the premature fusion of certain skull bones that prevents the skull from growing normally, and causes some fingers and toes to be fused together.

The condition, his mother said, resulted in him being transferred to University of Mississippi Medical Center soon after birth, and he has had numerous medical procedures over the years.

“He was a Blair Batson baby for a long time,” she said.

His condition made it physically impossible to enter his chosen career, but it never dulled his dream of being a police officer. Monday, with the help of friends, the Vicksburg Police Department and the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy in Pearl, he had a chance to live out his dream.

Late Monday morning, a special ceremony was held at the police department, and Jacob was honored with a certificate from the academy naming him an honorary graduate of the state’s Basic Law Enforcement Training Academy, a certificate from Vicksburg Police Chief Milton Moore naming him a junior police officer — the city’s first, and a certificate from Mayor George Flaggs Jr., recognizing him as a junior police officer.

“I was shocked and excited,” Jacob said after the ceremony. “I’m still celebrating. I stayed up late and watched my two favorite cop shows, “Police Academy “ and “Rookie Blue.”

The idea for the program came from Cerenity Acreman a senior at Vicksburg High, School and a friend of Jacob’s, who rode the bus with him to school and listened to his desire to be a police officer. Cerenity told Emmarie Flaggs, a teacher at Vicksburg High School and faculty advisor for the Leadership Academy at Vicksburg High.

“We have a program called ‘Do Good December,’ and we had a field trip where we shadowed Chief (Milton) Moore for a day,” she said.

Moore, she said, invited any of the students to be chief for a day, and Cerenity thought of Jacob.

Flaggs talked to Moore and police community relations officer Danielle Williams about “J-Day,” the name for the day honoring Jacob.

“We were talking and I was telling her about a program to have kids come in and spend the day with me, and she had a name,” Moore said. “I checked my calendar and we set up a day for him.”

Besides receiving the certificate, Jacob also got to tour the police station, he said.

“I’m still smiling,” Flaggs said. “Chief Moore and everyone put together a program that overwhelmed a young man and made him very happy.”

“I really want to thank the Vicksburg Police Department for the kindness they’ve shown to Jacob,” Michelle Engram said. “They were always kind enough to take the time to stop and talk with him whenever he saw them.

“We’d be driving down the street, and he would see a police officer, and say, ‘A police officer; can we stop and talk with him?’ He would talk with the officer and they would ask him how he was doing. He would ask them if they were on a case and how their day had been.

“They really helped a young man fill his dream.”

“I guess I never knew I had that many friends,” Jacob said. “I’m glad that I have so many friends.”

“He checked (at the station) in this morning,” Moore said Tuesday. “He called me and said, ‘I’m checking in.’”