Watch as police officer plays football with children in uplifting video

Police officers can often be thought of as intimidating figures. But one viral Facebook video of an officer playing football with a group of children shows a much softer side to cops.

On Tuesday, Lorenzo Adams was driving in Bennettsville, S.C., when he came upon a police officer playing football with a group of children. Adams started recording the friendly football game and then uploaded the video to Facebook, where it quickly went viral.

C.J. Mullinax, the police officer in the video, told ABC News that the department strives for community interaction. He hopes that the video will show the public that not all police officers are bad.

"I believe you can do so much more chasing a kid while holding a basketball or football than chasing a kid while holding a baton or gun," Bennettsville Police Department Police Chief Larry McNeil told ABC News. "I always tell my guys they can do more with what's between their ears -- their brain -- than the holster on their side."

The Facebook video has received over 6 million views as of Friday. Many Facebook users have been praising Mullinax for his positive interaction with the children.

"That's the way the cops are supposed to be...positive role models in the community, someone kids can look up to not be scared of, helpful to lives not destroying them!!" wrote one Facebook user.

Adams told ABC News that he talked to Mullinax on Wednesday night and thanked him over the phone.

"These days, there's so much negativity out there, and I just wanted to record it so Bennettsville could see we have good police officers here no matter what might be happening elsewhere," Adams said. "[Mullinax] thanked me for taking it, but really, he's the hero to thank -- in addition to all the people who saw the same thing I saw and helped the video go viral."

Mullinax says that his policing philosophy is based off of common respect and trying to make a difference every day.

"Whenever I have interactions with someone, despite what they've done, I'm going to treat them how I would want to be treated," Mullinax told ABC News. "We're all human, we all make mistakes, but at the same time, it's my responsibility as cop to help fix anything wrong, and I want to do that in the most respectful way possible."