Florida’s “Basketball Cop” is an MVP! (Most Valuable Police Officer)
Police Officer, Then Shaq, Surprises Kids With Game After Noise Complaint
By Mae Velasco, HeroFuel® Reporter
It began on Jan. 15 around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, when Gainesville Police Department Officer Bobby White was dispatched to “a complaint of kids playing basketball ‘loudly’ in the streets,” a video, which has gone viral, posted by the department explained.
On the dash cam, the streets seemed eerily quiet for a noise complaint call, as if the sight of his police car rolling in had the neighborhood kids scrambling for cover. Only one boy stood outside, the incriminating evidence — a basketball — in hand. Officer white strode toward him.
“How are you? Can you believe someone is calling to complain about kids playing basketball in the street?” Officer White asked the teen, unable to contain his disbelief. “Can you believe that?”
The boy seemed tense as the man in uniform came closer, pointing to a neighbor’s home. The next moment caught him by surprise — and probably surprised the rest of the viewers who watched the video.
“I don’t know who called, but obviously I ain’t got no problem with it,” Officer White said, grabbing the basketball, bouncing it once and casually taking a shot.
When it bounced off the rim, he grabbed it again and made it the second time.
“That’s a nice hoop,” he merely said.
Soon, the street that was almost devoid of kids, had eager basketball players trickling in, the wariness gone and the fun at full force.
“Oh, no. Now you’ve got backup!” Officer White joked as he was surrounded.
He and the kids continued to horse around, and they even lowered the hoop for him to make a slam dunk.
“All right, guys. I’m gonna go. Just do me a favor,” Officer White said to the group. “Obviously, I got no problem with you all playing basketball in the street, just if you can, just try not to be too loud, you know what I mean? Look, have fun. I’d rather see y’all doing this than out there causing trouble.”
Right before he left, he had a second thought.
“You guys play out here every day?” He asked.
When he received a chorus of yeahs, he made a promise.
“I might bring some back up,” Officer White said.
When asked about his impression of the call, Officer White only had one thing to say:
“I expected the call to be as described — ridiculous,” he told HeroFuel®.
The Gainesville Police Department was unanimous in their support, proud to say that they were going to let kids be kids with the hashtag #HoopsNotCrime.
Apparently, they weren’t the only one who supported the cause.
Retired NBA star Shaquille O’Neal walked into the GPD with an easy smile.
“Are you kidding me?” Officer White laughed, standing up to shake hands with the towering basketball legend. “You’re much taller than you look on TV.”
“Backup is here,” Shaq said, as the department applauded.
“Shaq actually reached out to me. His representative called me the night before he came and said he wanted to be Officer White’s backup. I was sworn to secrecy. Only my Chief and Major knew who was coming — and I only told them about a half hour before he arrived,” PIO and Department Spokesperson, Officer Ben Tobias, said.
But as surprised as the police officers were, their reactions did not compare to kids’ jaws dropping to the floor.
“I told you I was going to bring some backup, right?” Officer White said as he returned to the same neighborhood a week after the original call, with his fellow officers and another sleek car in tow.
At the sight of Shaq stepping into view, the kids were in an uproar.
“Holy crap, you’re huge!” One boy nearly squeaked in excitement, staring up at the 7-foot-tall, 300-pound man, as Shaq shook his hand and gave him a hearty clap on the back.
And the games began.
“We as cops have been trying to find a way to showcase that not all officers are as bad as the national media thinks. We have all seen the horrible choices that some officers have made around the country, but we wanted to show that not all of us are like that,” Officer Tobias said. “We have been so overwhelmed that our small police department was the one to carry the message. The viral response is still so overwhelming.”
The kids got the day of a lifetime, playing ball with the boys in blue and a future Hall-of-Famer.
Before he left, Shaq huddled the kids together for one last parting message, echoing similar thoughts to Officer White from the first day.
“I’m proud of you guys. Stay out of trouble. Listen to your parents. Respect your elders. Be who you want to be. I’m from the same neighborhood y’all are from,” Shaq said, gesturing to the hoop and street. “Only you can change this.”
The story of the Basketball Cop and Shaq rewarding good kids for being good kids has gone viral, spreading to a number of major news outlets and all over social media. While shared many times, the bigger message is still the same:
“I think the population is tired of seeing negative police stories. They want to return to the time when we were younger, that you felt you could trust your neighbood cop. I can only hope that this is a turning point,” Officer Tobias said, elaborating that the response Officer White had is the same one hundreds of thousands of other police officers would have had.
And what motivated the man who started it all to do what he did?
“To do the right thing,” Officer White said. “Not to miss a perfect opportunity to engage with kids who are doing the right thing and let them know that I appreciate it.”
(Now we can only hope the neighbor who made the call feels the same way!)
