Mike Kennedy and his father were close. They played baseball and other sports and often rode motorcycles together. When Mike's dad died in a car accident a few years ago, Mike lost both a parent and a friend.

Pasco Deputy David Hink met Mike, now 14, soon after Mike's father died. Because Hink's father died of cancer when Hink was 15, he understood what Mike was going through then and wanted to help, but he wasn't sure how.

On Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office announced a new program, Adopt-A-Cop, that will enable law enforcement officers like Hink to become friends with kids like Mike. Mike and Hink are the first kid/cop match of the program, a joint effort of the Pasco School Resource Officer Division and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Tampa Bay.