Police Bike for a Tyke With Love for the Law

His wispy black hair, just starting to grow back, peeked from under the authentic police cap. The 5-year-old’s brown eyes flashed as he tested the siren on a Fisher-Price police bike.

Jason Kramer learned he had acute lymphatic leukemia a year ago, but doctors caught the disease early and put it into remission.

And, according to the Irvine boy’s family, it was the friendship of Irvine Police Officer Christine D’Alena that got Jason through the worst of his chemotherapy.

On Monday at Irvine City Hall, D’Alena presented Jason with his own scaled-down city police uniform, complete with a utility belt, brass name tag, patches and shiny black Oxfords. The boy also received the three-wheel bike, with Irvine police decals, plus a police teddy bear and tiny orange traffic cones. “He asked me if he was going to get pepper spray. I said ‘No, no pepper spray,’ ” D’Alena said, laughing.

She first visited the boy in March, after a mutual friend told her about him and his love of law enforcement.

“Sure enough, his face lit up. We hit it off,” she said. “I knew there was something there.”

Since then she’s visited him at least weekly, and he’s responded with an affection that includes changing into jeans and a sweatshirt when D’Alena works plainclothes.

“She’s been a great help during his treatments,” said Jason’s aunt, Judy Ryan of Newport Beach. “They get along beautifully.”

It was Ryan’s gift of a police Halloween costume that first fueled his passion years ago. Now his father uses a walkie-talkie to dispatch the boy to clean his room, D’Alena said.

“I like the motorcycle, and the uniform and the helmet,” Jason chattered Monday, thanking the officer for the gifts, paid for by the Irvine Police Officers’ Assn.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” someone called from the crowd of about 50 onlookers, many of them uniformed officers.

“A doctor,” Jason replied, eliciting gales of laughter before he sped off on his bike.

D’Alena fled in mock embarrassment before shaking her finger at Jason. He later clarified that he wants to be a doctor for the Police Department.

“He’s smart, he’s witty,” D’Alena said. “He’s a very special kid, and he’ll probably be a part of my life for a really long time.”