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Singing officer is filmed entertaining revellers |
He’s top of the cops! Officer in Jackson tribute after concert
Policeman’s performance becomes a YouTube hit
OUR boys and girls in blue may have sirens, but now they have a new and more agreeable soundtrack thanks to a show-stopping performance from a Bobby who appears to have forgotten exactly what kind of beat he was on.
A video has emerged on the internet of an unknown officer giving thousands of delighted revellers an impromptu performance of Michael Jackson’s Rock With You as they left the weekend’s Wireless Festival in Hyde Park.
He can be seen singing, dancing and waiving his hands in the air from the back of his police van, occasionally breaking the rhythm to direct his ebullient audience to the Tube station. Broadcast over loudspeakers mounted on top of the van, the crowds didn’t need too much encouragement to join in – moonwalking all the way to the park gates.
One festival-goer described the performance in his blog: “After the awesome Wireless Festival ended last night, something special happened in the midst of the police shepherding people away from Hyde Park. As you would expect, there were police lines and fences everywhere and a van-mounted megaphone directing us to the subway.
“As we walked towards the van we were met with the sound of MJ’s ‘Rock with you’ playing out of the megaphone – I figured to keep the crowds pleasant – and intermittently, the police officer in control cut the music to give us directions. It was a nice touch and had the masses singing along, but to my joy and the surprise of everyone else, the officer cut the music and sang along with the crowd! It was magic, I wish more police could have such a lovely and sunny disposition.”
Another said: “The police officer singing and dancing to Rock With U made my night.”
The West End Extra has tried to track down the officer but it seems his flirt with fame has driven him underground.
Although the performance was spontaneous, it appears officers policing the festival were under instruction to adapt their crowd management strategy to “young people”.
Chief Inspector Nick Smith from the Royal Parks unit said: “We deliberately tailored our strategy for policing the O2 Wireless festival to the relevant target audience – young people. The briefing to officers was to strongly engage with attendees in a positive manner, taking time to relate to them and explain the procedures in place, which we know from experience reduces the risk of incident at these type of events.
“Tens of thousands of participants were safely assisted from the venue onto public transport through central London traffic and the feedback from the organisers and the community has been favourable.”
The full video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSBiFQZ7iTY |
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