By Brett Gillin
All too often, when you see dashboard camera footage of police officers, it’s for some terrible reason. A car crash, a high-speed pursuit, an officer being attacked, or even worse are just a few of the horrible reasons these videos are released to the public. Thankfully, the latest officer-involved dashcam video comes from the Dover Police Department, and it’s entertaining the nation.
The original story of the video went like this, according to this article on USA Today: The Dover Police Department in Delaware was doing some routine reviews of their officers’ dashboard cameras when they ‘found video of something quite amusing.” That video is of Officer Jeff Davis, a 19-year veteran of the police force, positively jamming to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.”
“I stay out too late. Got nothing in my brain. That’s what people say, mmm-mmm. That’s what people say, mmm-mmm,” Davis sings along as the camera rolls. But as you can tell in the video, Officer Davis is doing a whole lot more than simple lip-synching. He’s completely getting into it, head bobbing and all!
Officially, the video was actually staged by the Dover Police Department. According to this article on CNN, the video is the first in a planned series of videos meant to show a different side of the police department in the eyes of the citizens they serve. Although the video seems to show Officer Davis stopping his antics to allow other drivers to pass, the video was actually shot in two takes in a deserted parking lot.
“We’re trying to humanize police officers. People tend to look at us as robots with uniforms and gun belts so we wanted to show a lighter side of our force,” Dover Police Cpl. Mark Hoffman told reporters. “I think it’s important for people to see police in that light.”
In total, more than 8 million people have seen Officer Davis in this brand new light, which was most likely more than the Dover Police Department could have expected. “It was a fun thing, a nice thing to do with everything that’s going on with police. With all the negative publicity it’s nice to show a positive side of police,” Davis told reporters.
One of the people who got to see the lip-synching smash-hit was Taylor Swift herself! She remarked “LOLOLOLOL THE SAAS” via her official Twitter account after seeing the video. We think everyone agrees with that assessment!
