A Spring Lake Heights police officer went above and beyond her duty to help a child who was too scared to sleep.

Eight-year-old Samantha Conway says she is scared of the dark and had other fears that prevented her from falling asleep.

“I was afraid of bad guys coming in my window,” she says.

Samantha’s mother says that she would have to always check the windows and doors in the bedroom to make sure everything was locked. She says that the routine would take hours.

Enter Officer Samantha Levy. The officer and the little girl met at Officer Levy’s swearing-in ceremony earlier this year. They recently reconnected, and Samantha Conway told her police officer friend about her nighttime fears.

“She’s telling me she’s afraid of people coming in her window,” Levy says.

Officer Levy told Samantha that she would come by the next day with something to help her sleep.

The officer came back with a special night light for Samantha – a mason jar with lights inside and also a Spring Lake Heights Police Department patch. On the lid of the jar, a special message: “We will always be here to protect you – Spring Lake Heights Police.”

“Criminals that she thinks are going to come and get her, they'll see the SLH patch and she can put the light on and there's also a thin blue line around the jar so it represents a police line,” Levy says.

Samantha’s mother says that the night light worked like a charm.

“It worked. For the first time in several months I was able to put her to sleep with just a kiss on the head and she went right to sleep,” says Lauren Conway.

Officer Levy says that she hopes this inspires other police departments to do something similar in their communities.