A question for any cops out there. How would you have handled this?

Now, this is a little video, that someone has taken at a little rave/free party in some woods. It's obviously nearly time to go home anyway, as there's only a few people left around the rig. And looking at how close the cars are to the rig, it wasn't a massive rave to start with. So, the police officer in the video, is standing at the edge of the crowd, and someone is talking to him, looks like he's trying to get the copper to dance. He's obviously off his box and probably pushing it a bit. From my take on it, the cop must say something like "I ain't dancing with you, go get me some girlies!" Cos the guy goes away and comes back with some ladies. And they all crowd round him and the tune drops and they have a dance, cop joins in. At several points in the video I felt that the cop was in position where if maliciousness was the intent, it could have gone very wrong, very quickly. (I don't know how many more cops there are out of shot, which might make him feel a little safer)

Fair play to this officer, who seemed relaxed around a potentially volatile situation. You've got people on drugs, possibly still in possession of drugs, and maybe weapons. (cop is not to know this) They're all crowding round him and messing with his hood and stuff. So, the question to any cops out there (or anyone wishing to chirp in)...

....Would you have felt threatened enough to reposnd differently, how would you have handled it? I think he got it right, they know the parrty is over, they've probably told the police that they're packing up 20 mins anyway and if they don't force them off, they'll clear up all the crap and leave. (and yes, if a rave is left to go till the end, there will be clean up crews, at least, that's the norm from my experience) But you see police react with arrests and sometimes violence over alot less. (remember that lady on her front yard?)

without further rambling.....the video.

Lone me vs 20 drug addicts possibly having weapons(and s*x)?

I'll dance on 'baby' by justin beiber to save my ass...

I've seen video proof of two very excellent police officers this week.. the female officer in fla who arrested the officer from miami for speeding... and this guy. I like this trend.

It would have been so easy for this guy to be a complete hard ass .. but no .. not even a hint of that.

Bravo for him If officers who abuse their authority cause a loss of respect for the badge in general, officers like this help get a little of it back.

Originally posted by Resinveins
I've seen video proof of two very excellent police officers this week.. the female officer in fla who arrested the officer from miami for speeding... and this guy. I like this trend.

It would have been so easy for this guy to be a complete hard ass .. but no .. not even a hint of that.

Bravo for him

If officers who abuse their authority cause a loss of respect for the badge in general, officers like this help get a little of it back.

yeah, definatly credit where credit is due. I'm usually the first to slag off the police for being OTT. but this guy, and his enterage (he's not alone, there will be more officers in waiting) deserve some props.

What the hell? Where do you get the idea that just because they enjoy this kind of music there must be dopeheads and weapons around? Also you should read the comments on the youtube page. He was there just to make sure the party ended at the assigned time. Not looking for trouble to begin with.

[Edit to add] Just search "police dancing" at youtube. There's tons of them. Curiously mostly from Uk. Rest of the world seems bit uptight now.

As a former production company owner, all the cops we ever hired were cool. They knew what was happening and were NEVER over the top. I guess the fact that we wrote their paychecks had something to do with it but most were off duty just trying to earn some extra cash. In fact there were a few that we counted on at most of our events and got to be good friends with. So no, not all cops are bad. Just the ones with a invisible thumb pushing down on them.

reply to post by PsykoOps


LOL Funny you should say that.. I found the most threatening thing about them was their horrid taste in music

Originally posted by PsykoOps
What the hell? Where do you get the idea that just because they enjoy this kind of music there must be dopeheads and weapons around? Also you should read the comments on the youtube page. He was there just to make sure the party ended at the assigned time. Not looking for trouble to begin with.

[Edit to add] Just search "police dancing" at youtube. There's tons of them. Curiously mostly from Uk. Rest of the world seems bit uptight now.

edit on 5/11/2011 by PsykoOps because: add

I am a raver, have been for nearly 20 years. been to large legal events and squat parties alike. and I can say for sure that those people are on drugs. OK, there may have been a few who weren't. But from my experience, they are in the minority by a far stretch. And as for weapons, I'm not sure about the more countryfied parties, but I know that the london free party scene has been completly taken over by gangs of crack heads. (some of the soundsystem crews get a cut of their haul, and rigs who have tried to kick them out have had death threats) Pretty much everyone I know who goes to parties has been robbed at some point, many of those robberies had knifes involved, and a few of them some quite serious beatings were taken. Long gone are the days of fluffy loved up ravers. Some scenes are still very friendly, but some are very shadey, and very dangerous places to be. I will not go to a free party in London anymore, the fun has been jacked out of it. I've been lucky and only got jacked once, they didn't get anything as i managed to confront them (dutch courage) and walked away. It's been getting bad from the mid 90s, but now it's so much worse. Gangs moved in long before this I know, but they were selling drugsand kept their violence between dealers. now everyone is fair game.

Oh these people are on drugs...they are so evil!

Seriously...did it look like the cop was threatened? Actually, people going to rave are often on ecstasy or other soft psychedelics. It's safer to be in a rave than to be in NYC. These are drugs that don't make you aggressive, hell, they probably just wanted to hug the cop and say thank you for not causing trouble and messing with our event.

But drugs are EVIL! Almost forgot about that,...