Save the last dance…

A Washington DC police officer trying to disperse a group of teenagers after a fight has made the headlines by engaging one of them in a dance-off.

Nov 4, 2015
By Stitch
Simon Megicks

A Washington DC police officer trying to disperse a group of teenagers after a fight has made the headlines by engaging one of them in a dance-off.

The officer has been praised by her police chief, Cathy Lanier, her mayor, Muriel Bowser, and President Barack Obama. Mr Obama tweeted: “Great example of police having fun while keeping us safe.” Let us hope that this is the end of the matter.

In a stark warning as to how such initiatives can end in tears an Indonesian policeman who became an internet sensation when filmed singing and dancing in uniform has been sacked after failing to go to work for several months. He appeared on TV talk shows and was improving the police`s poor image, but things started to go downhill after he won a record deal worth $100,000. He has now been dishonourably discharged from his job, in which he earned about $100 a month. He has now had his tongue pierced and discarded his khaki uniform, complaining that when he was in the police “I always had to behave”. I would hope that this was pointed out to him before he joined.

A National Police spokesman told a news agency: “He may think that his new career is much better than being a policeman, but he`s mistaken.” There is no information as to criteria he used while making this judgment, but it would appear that no maths were involved.

These events are in stark contrast to what happened when the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) decided to close down an illegal rave in Lambeth. Crowds threw “bottles, chairs, propane cylinders, bricks, poles, spiky bits of wood and a suspected petrol bomb” at them, but only managed to injure 14 officers. It is difficult to throw things while dancing in fancy dress. Eight people arrested, and the organisers of the event have accused police of “bashing people senseless and letting their dogs go at people almost unrestrained”.

BBC reporter John Sweeney was woken by the sound of the crowds and reported: “Here I was in my own house, scared because outside someone was sat on the roof of my car.” On the positive side he didn’t have to use the car to travel to work to get the story. More worryingly, he said the ashes of his father were in the boot, and he was worried that they might be disrespected. This is a sensitive issue. We do not know how long his father’s ashes have been in the boot, nor why he has chosen to store them there. It is inevitable that, over an extended period of time anything in the boot of a car used by a diligent reporter will come into some form of danger, but it is very unlikely that they could have been burned.

These incidents, when taken together, highlight some of the managerial issues that face senior police officers in the age of social networks. It appears evident that none of the officers deployed by the MPS had the ability, confidence, training and charisma to engage the revellers in a dance off. Even if they had, what would have happened if they had lost? Would they have been forced to withdraw? And what would have happened had they won? Perhaps they would be offered lucrative recording contracts and sent on tour, and the MPS would have to train their replacements all over again.

You just can’t win.

Yours,

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