On January 15th, Officer White responded to a 911 call that there were boys playing basketball "too loudly" in the street. Officer White arrived at the scene and started asking the boys if they knew who called the cops, they said they didn't know. After a small exchange Off. White said, "I don't know who called it in, but obviously, I ain't got no problem with it" (FoxNews). He then began to play some basketball with them, there were some shots fired, but not from a gun. Officer White played basketball with the boys for few minutes more before some other children joined in, to which he joked that they had "brought backup." After a few more minutes playing around, he told the boys that he had to go now, but he would return later tomorrow with some backup of his own to get a real game going. He also asked them to keep playing as long as they want but try not to be too loud. The boys agreed and the officer and the players parted ways.
This was all caught by the dashcam in Officer White's police car, the Gainesville PD later released the video with the hashtag, #HoopsNotCrime, it soon went viral gaining more than 4 million views in 24 hours. One of the viewers was Shaquille O'Neal, NBA legend. Shaq saw the video and wanted to help, he dropped by the police station the next day and surprised Officer White. Shaq expressed his thanks to White for his actions towards the kids playing basketball. Later that day, White did return to the place where the boys were playing with backup, as promised, including Shaq. The kids went nuts when they saw Shaq. The rest of the video shows the kids, police officers, and Shaq all playing a pickup game against each other. At the end, Shaq lines up all the boys and tells them that if they can make a shot from a certain point in two tries that he'll give them 100 dollars. All of the boys, some with a little more leniency and help, make their shots. All of them looked very excited as Shaq gathers them around before he gives each of them 100 dollars he talks to them about the importance of staying in school, respect, and staying away from drugs. He makes them recite this, "I will become whatever I want to be. I will be a leader, not a follower. I will respect my peers, my elders and especially my parents."
I searched the hashtag (HoopsNotCrime) on twitter and found a YouTube video from the Gainesville PD. It's a series that the Gainesville PD runs called, Gainesville PD: On Duty. It give a behind the scenes look at most of the big stories that the Gainsville police are associated with. In it, they interviewed Officer White and when asked how in all of the interviews he conducted with the various news sites, they kept reporting on his "extraordinary response" and his take on that. Officer White responded saying that what he found most disheartening was that it was considered an extraordinary response in the first place, he was "just doing his job, and it is sad to see that the perception of cops around the world is so negative that this instance was seen as surprising at all." I'd like to focus on this point as well because I agree with Officer White. It is extremely disheartening that in today's world, a video like this seems out of the ordinary. That a cop stopping to be kind and play basketball with a bunch of kids is out of character. It seems that all we hear about in the news today is "cop killers," and mostly their African American victims. This is a tough subject to approach because of all the contention surrounding it. However, there is the fact that the incarceration rate of black people is much higher than any other race, and the sentences that a black person receives are often more extreme than that of a white person for the same crime. And dashcam videos do show, in my opinion, many cops being overly-aggressive and overly-eager to use their guns. Unfortunately, this has created the idea that all cops are bad. While I 100% believe that there are bad cops, and some police departments are more corrupt, the idea that all cops are bad has permeated through our society. That is why this video of Officer White's actions was seen as so out of the ordinary.
Having positive public relations is important with any type of business or corporation, but it is perhaps even more important for Police Inc. (lolz) to have the best public relations espeically in times like these. The Department of Justice would agree with me, in fact in 2014 the Department of Justice released a resource guide to help law enforcement strengthen relationships with communities. “Law enforcement officers are stewards of the peace and protectors of the people, but above all else, they are custodians of the public trust,” said COPS Office Director Ron Davis. When public trust is violated, it takes twice as much effort to gain back that trust. You've heard the saying, two wrongs do not make a right, well I believe that it takes at least two rights to repair a wrong. “It is vital to engage in planning and preparation, from evaluating protocols and training to choosing the appropriate equipment and uniforms. This is the hard work that is necessary to preserve the peace and maintain the public trust at all times—particularly in moments of heightened community tension.” Today's society definitely has had its fair share of heightened community tension. Many Black Lives Matter activist are extremely upset at the justice system today. In my opinion, the best way to help de escalate tensions is not to ignore or defend actions of past injustice, but to openly admit that there are problems. Validating people's feelings is incredibly powerful. And the feelings of many activists are true and need to be addressed, brushing them aside or permeating hashtags such as #BlueLivesMatter or #AllLivesMatter is not helping. Of course all lives matter, but we have to realize that there is a specific community of people who are being mistreated more than everyone else. Saying that Black Lives Matter is not a direct attack at all lives not mattering, it would behoove the police departments to start looking at it in this light. Bringing attention to one group does not threaten the wellbeing of every other group - or at least, it shouldn't.
I also found a GoFundMe page that is dedicated to Officer White gaining the funds to help him start a program for children to help keep out of trouble and get into basketball. The Basketball Cop Foundation is helping kids to achieve that. You can donate here.
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