At a time when police tactics are under fire nationwide, the way Gainesville Police Department Officer Bobby White dealt with a noise complaint is going viral — for different reasons.
Officer White was dispatched to respond to a complaint of kids playing basketball “loudly” in the streets on Jan. 15 at about 5 p.m. EST. What he did in reponse was captured by a dashboard video camera and shared on the police department’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon.
By early Friday afternoon, the video had been viewed roughly 4.7 million times and shared on Facebook nearly 120,000 times.
White’s style of policing is one the police department says “inspires other officers.”
“We are proud to be able to be a positive light for law enforcement in today’s view of officers. Not all of us that wear the badge are perfect. Not even close. But we know there are thousands of officers around the country that are just like this. Thanks for the incredible support!” Gainesville Police Department posted on its Facebook page in the comments section of the post the video.
In the video, White decides to play hoops with the kids instead of scolding them. He grabs the basketball and dribbles it. He shoots, rebounds, tosses up an alley-oop and even throws down a dunk.
Other teens are eventually seen joining in the game.
In a message watermarked over the video, Gainesville Police Department says, “So … if you call GPD to complain about kids being kids … this is how Officer White is going to handle it. We’re going to let kids be kids. We are going to focus on the ones that commit crimes. #HoopsNotCrime.”
