NEW YORK CITY, NY- The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has been drawing national attention, and criticism recently thanks to their newly debuted dance team.
The dance team was founded in 2022 and is one of nearly 50 teams within the NYPD sports unit. Paintball, baseball, hockey, rugby, and boxing are among the other teams in the unit. Intended as an outlet and a place that officers can take to after their shifts to relax, the dance team has found itself at the center of attention surrounding the NYPD.
Opposition grew after the team’s performance on a local TV station. With several critics taking to social media to express their concerns.
One user on X wrote, “Fire the NYPD dance team and hire more cops.”
Another said, “Mayor Eric Adams cut an additional $100 million from education this year, but he somehow found money for the NYPD to promote themselves with a dance team.”
Citywide crime statistics for January released by the NYPD, indicate that subway and transit system crimes increased by 70 index crimes, while robbery increased by around six percent. The city also saw a small increase in grand larceny. Authorities reported that despite the past month showing an increase in violent crimes, overall, most major crime categories continue to see a decline in comparison with January of 2023. This includes drops in rape, murder, felony assault, and burglary.
Despite the slight drop, crime stats still remain high compared to several years ago.
Despite all this information, citizens are concerned about the focus of the NYPD. Many say that they are concerned that dance moves have taken priority over fighting crime.
Former FBI agent and Fox News contributor, Nicole Parker, spoke with Fox News, saying, “If that’s what you need to do, do that on your own time. At a time when violent crime is off the roof in New York City, this is not appropriate. This is not keeping the community safe and is very concerning.
“I back the blue, but I can’t support this. I guarantee criminals are laughing. Do you think criminals are going to have any respect for you? How do you expect to gain the respect of your colleagues and community when you’re doing this?” Parker added.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chimed in on the conversation as well, taking to X to ask, “How many school music programs got defunded for this?” The tweet appears to have been removed after she faced her own backlash. However, the internet is forever, and screenshots abound.
Autumn Raine-Martinez, who is the dance team’s president, has spoken out amidst the controversy. “Even with the comments we’ve been getting, we’ve been just leaning on each other, just supporting each other. It’s already tough being on this [police] job, but then to have more things like that [criticism] for doing something we love doing is kind of hard," she said.
Speaking in support of the dance team, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters on Tuesday, “We have an NYPD boxing team, NYPD hockey team, FDNY team. We have fraternal organizations… It really humanizes our offices.”
Amid the backlash, Adams told reporters that he has invited the team to city hall, and invited reporters to stay, saying: “They will be around later. If any of you want to learn some moves, you could be here to participate.”
On X, Adams wrote, “This team SERVES and protects! Honored to join the NYPD Dance team at City Hall. I think it’s so important that our women and men in uniform have outlets like this to express themselves and bond. They work hard on the clock and dance hard off the clock — like true New Yorkers."
It has been disclosed that the dance team is not taxpayer funded. The law enforcement officers on the team practice and perform on their off time, per the NYPD.
The dance team was founded in 2022 and is one of nearly 50 teams within the NYPD sports unit. Paintball, baseball, hockey, rugby, and boxing are among the other teams in the unit. Intended as an outlet and a place that officers can take to after their shifts to relax, the dance team has found itself at the center of attention surrounding the NYPD.
Opposition grew after the team’s performance on a local TV station. With several critics taking to social media to express their concerns.
One user on X wrote, “Fire the NYPD dance team and hire more cops.”
Another said, “Mayor Eric Adams cut an additional $100 million from education this year, but he somehow found money for the NYPD to promote themselves with a dance team.”
Citywide crime statistics for January released by the NYPD, indicate that subway and transit system crimes increased by 70 index crimes, while robbery increased by around six percent. The city also saw a small increase in grand larceny. Authorities reported that despite the past month showing an increase in violent crimes, overall, most major crime categories continue to see a decline in comparison with January of 2023. This includes drops in rape, murder, felony assault, and burglary.
Despite the slight drop, crime stats still remain high compared to several years ago.
Despite all this information, citizens are concerned about the focus of the NYPD. Many say that they are concerned that dance moves have taken priority over fighting crime.
Former FBI agent and Fox News contributor, Nicole Parker, spoke with Fox News, saying, “If that’s what you need to do, do that on your own time. At a time when violent crime is off the roof in New York City, this is not appropriate. This is not keeping the community safe and is very concerning.
“I back the blue, but I can’t support this. I guarantee criminals are laughing. Do you think criminals are going to have any respect for you? How do you expect to gain the respect of your colleagues and community when you’re doing this?” Parker added.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chimed in on the conversation as well, taking to X to ask, “How many school music programs got defunded for this?” The tweet appears to have been removed after she faced her own backlash. However, the internet is forever, and screenshots abound.
Autumn Raine-Martinez, who is the dance team’s president, has spoken out amidst the controversy. “Even with the comments we’ve been getting, we’ve been just leaning on each other, just supporting each other. It’s already tough being on this [police] job, but then to have more things like that [criticism] for doing something we love doing is kind of hard," she said.
Speaking in support of the dance team, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters on Tuesday, “We have an NYPD boxing team, NYPD hockey team, FDNY team. We have fraternal organizations… It really humanizes our offices.”
Amid the backlash, Adams told reporters that he has invited the team to city hall, and invited reporters to stay, saying: “They will be around later. If any of you want to learn some moves, you could be here to participate.”
On X, Adams wrote, “This team SERVES and protects! Honored to join the NYPD Dance team at City Hall. I think it’s so important that our women and men in uniform have outlets like this to express themselves and bond. They work hard on the clock and dance hard off the clock — like true New Yorkers."
It has been disclosed that the dance team is not taxpayer funded. The law enforcement officers on the team practice and perform on their off time, per the NYPD.
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Comments
2024-02-24T09:03-0600 | Comment by: Sally
As usual, the deliberately ignorant shout the loudest. What are the NYPD supposed to do - be on duty 24/7? How many of the complainants engage in off-duty activities to relax and wind down? How many of them actually work for a living?
2024-02-24T09:04-0600 | Comment by: Sally
As usual, the deliberately ignorant shout the loudest. What are the NYPD supposed to do - be on duty 24/7? How many of the complainants engage in off-duty activities to relax and wind down? How many of them actually work for a living?
2024-02-26T17:15-0600 | Comment by: Kevin
It is a disgrace that after many ACLU lawsuits women were allowed to be street cops. When the LAPD was forced to hire them, all qualifications were soon deemed racist and or discriminatory against women. LAPD has not hired or promoted based on merit for decades and is now a woke CRT-DEI shadow of its former self. I know many of you woke sissy boys who were raised as soft-sensitive progressives will be outraged by this truth. And the females, including a high percentage of lesbians, will also be upset. Females have weakened and made a joke of true law enforcement.