When an image of a police officer goes viral, it's often for something the police department isn't going to be very proud of. But that's certainly not the case with the above photo of New York City police officer Lawrence DePrimo that has been circulating the internet.

Earlier this month Jennifer Foster, a tourist from Arizona, noticed Officer DePrimo squatting next to a shoeless homeless man who was sitting up against a shoe store on a cold night. As you can see in the photo, DePrimo is giving the man a brand new pair of warm boots that he had just bought for him at the store.

According to Foster, she took the photo because she remembered her father, also a police officer, had once done a similar kindness for a homeless man. When she got back to Arizona she sent the cellphone shot to the NYPD, who asked if they could put it on their Facebook page.

She agreed and not long after the photo went viral, with commenters all over the internet praising DePrimo for his generosity and caring.

DePrimo, who didn't know the NYPD was going to post the photo, says he is surprised by the attention. He also said he bought the barefoot man the boots because his own feet were cold even though he had on two pair of socks and added that the store owner gave him the employee discount when he explained what he was doing. It's the kind of good deed that we wish we saw more of during the Christmas season.

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