California Cop Teaches Young Homeless Girl to Play Hopscotch While Officers Work to Find Her Family Housing

The girl and her mother had been discovered living in their car, and officers were working to arrange housing for them, when the moment was captured on video

Photo: Source: Huntington Beach Police Department/Facebook

Police officers have to have many skills to be effective – including how to play hopscotch.

Just watch this video from the Huntington Beach, California, Police Department, posted on Facebook on Wednesday, which shows one of their officers teaching a homeless girl how to play hopscotch.

The sweet moment has a serious lining, according to the department: Officers Wednesday morning were investigating a “suspicious occupied vehicle” when they learned that a mother and her 11-year-old daughter were living out of their car.

While officers worked to arrange housing for the family, one of the officers “began displaying his expertise in hopscotch to the daughter,” according to the department.

His demonstration came complete with all the necessary hopping.

The resulting video has been seen more than 1 million times on Facebook, and the officer involved has been identified as Officer Zach Pricer, according to the Huntington Beach Independent.

“For an 11-year-old girl, to see a police officer towering over her is a scary thing,” Pricer, 38, told the Orange County Register. “I was trying to break the ice and get her to feel comfortable with me.”

Reaction to the video on social media appears overwhelmingly positive, even if some were sticking very close to the rules.

“Very sweet, but the officer is out. You can’t use your hand to balance when picking up the marker,” one Facebook user wrote – to which the department responded, “We will fill him in on the rules!”

PEOPLE was not immediately able to reach either Pricer or department representatives for comment.