Heroics come in many forms. Having experienced a police career, my memories range from tragic to thought-provoking to heartwarming. I suspect there is a particular policeman working the beat in Gainesville, Florida who can say the same thing, especially the heartwarming part. Gainesville police Officer Bobby White launched the Basketball Cop Foundation in 2016 and has watched it blossom ever since.
As Officer White mentioned yesterday: “I started this foundation 2 years ago. Who knew back then that in just two years, we would connect cops with kids in over 50 police jurisdictions across the country. Thank you to all who have and continue to support our mission to improve police/youth/community relations nationwide. It’s working!”
One particular moment gave rise to Basketball Cop Foundation, and it stemmed from a citizen complaint received by the Gainesville police on January 15, 2016 @ 5:01 p.m.
Officer White describes the call in his own words: “The caller advised that there were several teens who were playing basketball ‘loudly’ in the street in front of his house. He explained that this was a chronic ‘issue’ and asked that a patrol officer be dispatched to address the teens and the noise.
“I was on patrol and saw the call appear on my in-car computer. I assigned myself to the call before being dispatched and headed to the ‘incident’ location. I arrived on-scene and encountered exactly what the caller described…kids playing basketball.
“I exited my patrol car and handled the call exactly how I have handled this type of call in the past, and exactly how officers across the country would have handled the call. Not by telling the kids that it was wrong to be playing basketball, but by telling them that I had no issue with it. I then proved it by shooting some hoops with them for over ten minutes before leaving to handle a ‘real’ police call.
“Before I left, I asked the kids if they played there all the time. They told me that they played there every day. Planning on coming back with a few more officers for a pick-up game at a later date, I told them that I would return with ‘Back Up.’​
“The entire call was recorded on my dash cam,” summarized Officer White.
I am an advocate of police dash or body-worn cameras. It can help the world to see police culture, in both good and bad situations. In this case, a monumentally good piece of police work was captured.
With the advent of technology upon us, practically every single soul out there is cell-phone-recording police activities. Police work-dog handler pulled over so Cujo cop can drop poo? Someone has footage of that beastly break. Police pursuit plowing down Main Street? Someone caught that blur of adrenaline-inducing activity.
However, in this instance Officer White’s dash-cam recorded a brand of police work cops perform across the nation, albeit ill-reported by media. Good cop stuff often takes a catalyst who believes in sharing great feats of police work. GPD’s catalyst came from within.
The public information officer for the Gainesville Police Department, Ben Tobias, decided to obtain a copy of the “noise disturbance” call and uploaded it to the GPD Facebook page. In under 24 hours, it garnered over 3 million views. That followed with a bevy of calls to GPD, commending Officer White’s enriching interaction. And that influenced media outlets from all over the globe to call and request interviews with White. Modestly, he declined all but one with the local news affiliate.
PIO Tobias pressed White to consider doing one other interview, with TMZ Sports.
“I declined,” said Officer White. “Ben then told me that TMZ was going to get the NBA involved at some level. This instantly put the thought into my head that if the NBA got involved, that something really cool might happen for the kids I met that day on that call. I agreed to do the interview with TMZ.” From there, it bloomed like a hardy garden.
Officer White had the idea of officiating something…and that something was given the self-explanatory name of Basketball Cop Foundation, netting the attention to fulfill dreams he never even imagined on or before January 15, 2016.
Police agencies from all over adopted the basketball cop concept: NYPD; Sanford, FL PD, Houston PD, and the list goes on:
To punctuate how large of a selfless policeman he is, Officer White’s Basketball Cop Foundation attracted another large and selfless figure who happens to be a retired NBA champ and a sworn law enforcement officer: Shaquille O’Neal. In fact, it may soon be Sheriff Shaq in Lake County, Florida.
Officer White refers to Shaquille O’Neal’s recognition of Basketball Cop Foundation as the “Shaq Effect,” as explained in a TMZ Sports video. Not only did that video blow me away, it made me wonder what the initial complainant thought when he peered out his window and saw that…in-the-flesh live action.
Blue Bloods
Proud to have a policeman with an enormous heart, the Gainesville Police Department‘s chief of police, Tony Jones, resembles Officer White’s mission of police community relations. “Throughout his career, Chief Jones has been a vital member of our community. He [is] the co-founder of the Reichert House Youth Academy. The Reichert House serves at-risk youth from ages 12-18. The program is a comprehensive, holistic approach to providing educational opportunities, life skills, vocational training, and structured support services which are all designed to transform these at-risk youth into future contributors to our community.”
Community giving or giving to community, that is the core message and mission behind any police agency’s existence, and the very essence of what they do and how they perform. Given the resembling pedigrees between Chief Jones and Officer White, it seems the apples fall not far from the GPD tree.
In researching material for this article, I discovered that Officer White happens to be a friend of another outstanding cop OpsLens published a piece about. Fort. Worth, Texas police Officer Damon Cole travels the nation on his own dole, dressed as any of a number of superheroes, visiting children with cancer.
As Officer Cole reminds us, “Kindness is FREE and people forget that. Be the reason someone smiles today.” Selfless and modest, both of these caring cops do not feel they are the heroes; they confer the “superhero” label upon the kids they help in various ways.
It’s Not Just Basketball
Although basketball with community kids is the central theme behind Officer White’s basketball brainchild community relations vehicle, other means are employed to reach kids, share company, explore exercise, and flourish together.
From jump shots to…jump rope? Ever seen a cop jump-rope before? Well, thanks to the authentic law enforcement officers among the Basketball Cop Foundation, you can tick that curiosity off your list.
The interview requests persisted. “It didn’t take long before I realized that this had quickly grown bigger than me and that I couldn’t keep declining interviews,” officer White expounded. “I decided to use the opportunity to share my message to the world that what I did that day was nothing innovative, spectacular or special, but that I was doing what police officers do every day around the world. For the next couple of weeks, I didn’t sleep much,” he added.
As the publicity snowballed, so did plans to widen the scope. What if cops considered this relational experience more extraordinarily, like doing even greater things with the youngsters? Planned events where everyone, including kids, plays a role? Raising their own funds? Chaperoned field trips? It didn’t take long.
“I received a phone call from a representative of the Orlando Magic. She had some news that I couldn’t wait to share with the kids,” said White. He and the group of basketball stars from the streets of Gainesville were going to be guests of the stars with the Orlando Magic!
And the roots never waned. Law enforcement officers all across Florida and other states continued to emulate Officer White’s “noise abatement” technique by getting out of their patrol cruisers and onto the playing courts more often, interacting with kids of any age.
Need lessons in dribbling a basketball? Without age restrictions, Florida’s cops have that covered too.
Needless to say, Officer White and other cops following suit have forged some fantastic friendships through the Basketball Cop Foundation principles. Speaking from experience, the level of glee from filling up a child’s life is immeasurable and euphoric.
Piggybacking on that notion are the many young voices lending to the national conversation regarding community relations with police personnel, echoing how supporting figures representing justice produces dividends for all. As Officer White put it, “I began receiving donations of basketballs and portable basketball hoops to donate to other kids in the community. I then started receiving emails and Facebook messages asking if I was accepting donations to keep the story alive. I started thinking that this could be an opportunity to get basketballs and hoops to kids all over the city. I also thought about all of the apartment complexes and churches around the city that do not have basketball courts. What if I could generate enough revenue to build a few basketball courts?” What Ifs became We did it!
The photo above elicited a Facebook comment from Jay Remine who said, “People, you have to understand that things aren’t going to just change overnight but things will never change until you start off small. Just by him doing that could completely change and mold that little boy’s life…this is how change starts, one kid at a time. You can’t make an impact on the world until you’ve made an impact on a person.” Indeed, impacts such as these effect change.
Nancy Lieberman Charities
Nancy Lieberman Charities is the namesake of Nancy Elizabeth Lieberman, also known as “Lady Magic,” the assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings as well as a former professional basketball player who shot hoops with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Given her stardom and success, Ms. Lieberman took note of what Officer White created and the marvelous experiences generated by the Basketball Cop Foundation.
Via the Basketball Cop Foundation concept, Officer White provides basketball-related goals, guidance, and equipment to police agencies all across America, “connecting hundreds of officers with hundreds of kids.”
“You would be hard-pressed to find a kid who doesn’t enjoy basketball. Add a Police Officer who can dribble a ball, and you have just founded the beginning of a relationship,” declared Officer White.
Not a bad on-duty performance which led to a phenomenal following, huh?
