Social Media Case 6: Basketball Cop


I have this sneaking suspicion that the world is always looking for something inspiring to grab onto. So I was not surprised when the Basketball Cop video went viral, and even caught the attention of Shaquille O-Neal.

This is what happened: in January 2016 a police officer in Gainsville, Florida received a noise complaint. When he went to investigate, he realized that there was nothing illegal happening, but instead it was a group of kids playing basketball. Instead of scolding or threatening them and driving off, he instead took the opportunity to play with them. Yup, that is right: He got right in there and played some basketball with these kids.

Of course the masses loved this.  It didn’t take long for the video to go viral. With all the negative interactions between law enforcement and the community, especially black people, everyone was excited to see something uplifting.

According to this article, it became a national project to improve the relationships between law enforcement and the community.

And you can see here that it is still moving forward and making positive changes today. Thank you basketball cop!

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