Florida police department goes viral with genius strategy to connect with community

A Florida police department went viral after launching a social media campaign aimed at boosting recruitment and bridging the gap between officers and the local community.

Speaking on "Fox & Friends Weekend," members of the Ocala Police Department discussed the online campaign that has racked up millions of views by showcasing the human side of the people behind the badge.

"Social media, being able to bring light, especially since like 2020 and all that stuff happened, being able to bring a positive light to the police department, being able to take the serious side away from work, showing that we do have personalities," Officer Sean Price said. 

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"These videos certainly humanize the badge, the uniform. I think that's a really good way of doing it, because you get caught too much in social media. There's a lot of negative things," he added.

Earlier this week, the department posted another video accompanied by the song "Daddy's Home" by Usher as part of the "We Do" campaign. The latest video shows officers in familiar dating scenarios while actually carrying out their duties.

The video asks, "Does he open your door?" alongside footage of an officer escorting someone into a patrol car. It also features "Does he listen to you?" paired with an officer taking a statement and "Does he answer your call?" alongside a team member answering an emergency call — all answered with "We do."

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The video jokingly highlights the many ways officers are serving their community and keeping people safe, and it has already reached more than 19 million views on Facebook. Corporal Alexandria Blackman said reactions have been positive, calling it a "way for us to show who we are outside of being serious."

"It's a nice way to connect with the community and for them to see a funny or a lighter side of us," she said.

Price echoed those sentiments, saying he believes the positive attention could result in more applications to join the force.

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"I mean, with as much as it's navigated throughout social media, with all the likes and attention we've got, I would just say we've gotten some positive attention," Price said. He later added, "I'd say we should have some more applications coming in here soon."

Officer Clayton Brown offered a message to those considering joining the force: "I would say, one, what's your why? You got to have a good why of coming into the job like this."

"And if it's to reach our community, you're [going to] be there on people's worst days. And you have to come at it with a different outlook, a different perspective. You have to be able to see both sides of things. But I'd say if you have that itch, we need good people. So do it."