Far too often, all we see are negative interactions between an individual and a police officer in the headlines. That’s why I am thrilled to be able to bring you a genuinely awesome moment between one D.C. teen and her local police officer.
The police officer, who asked not to be named so as to not “make the story about her,” was called to the scene of a fight between two groups of teens in downtown Washington, D.C. By the time the police officer arrived on scene, the fight had already been broken up. However, there were still teens standing around and throwing insults at each other. The police officer asked the teens to head on their way, when one teen decided to challenge the police officer to a dance off.
The teen, Aaliyah Taylor, went up to the female police officer and began to play the musical masterpiece “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” by Silento via her phone. The teen said the police officer jokingly told her she had seen better dance moves, at which point the teen decided to throw down the gauntlet. Challenging the police officer to a dance off, with the stakes being whether the teens would have to disperse or not, the officer accepted. If Taylor was deemed to have won, the teens could stay, if the police officer won, the teens had to break it up and move along.
As you can see in the video below, despite having about 40 pounds of full equipment on, the police officer managed to truly get low and give Taylor a run for her money. The best part of the entire interaction was how it changed Taylor’s perception of police officers. In response to The Washington Post, Taylor said, “I never expected cops to be that cool. There are some good cops.” Having had only negative interactions with police before, Taylor also had a seen her seven siblings treated (in her words) in an “unnecessarily rude and rough manner” by police officers. From these experiences, Taylor thought “all cops were cruel, because that’s how I saw them” and did not expect to have a positive experience with this police officer.
Happily though, Taylor now believes that “there are good cops out there.”
Therefore, if all it takes to diffuse situations and change police officer interactions with the public is some sick dance moves, then dancing should be added to the training for every new police officer.
Featured image a screen grab from the YouTube video of the dance off.
