NYPD dance team sparks controversy after performance goes viral

A viral video of the New York Police Department (NYPD) dance team’s performance has sparked online controversy about how they spend their time.

In the US, police officers have been known to go viral for several bizarre reasons, including when a cop hit another officer during a high-speed car chase, or when a police officer injured themselves going down a child’s slide.

Controversy has been sparked again after a televised performance of the NYPD dance team went viral after a team of seven women did a routine on NYC news channel PIX11.

They performed the rather lacklustre dance to the Flo Rida song ‘Club Can't Handle Me’ and wore basketball jerseys with the letters NYPD on the front.

The NYPD dance team was established in 2022, and its president, Autumn-Rain Martinez, said dance rehearsal is “a place to release mental stress”.

“We have to have a space to decompress,” she added.

They rehearse two to three times a week and do performances at schools and other venues across the city.

A clip of their PIX11 performance has been viewed over 31 million times on X/Twitter and sparked debate about how the police are spending their time and tax payers’ money.

“They aren’t protecting and they’re definitely not serving,” one viewer mocked.

Another argued: “I get that this is supposed to make the cops likeable, but with each passing moment my hatred only multiplied.”

Someone else wrote: “*Stares in library budget cuts*”

One person pointed out: “I’d like to remind everyone that NYC public libraries are closed on weekends but NYPD gets to do…whatever this is.”

“But why does a city need a dance team and how is it a called a dance team when the folks can’t dance?” another asked.

The team Vice President, Lauren Pagan, explained in an interview: “I'm just answering 911 jobs all day, all day, all day out of roll call until it's time to go home.”

She continued: “Music is amazing. And when I get to sit here and just listen even if it’s the same song over and over, it’s a nice place to be. Everybody here loves to dance. They love being here.”

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