While residents of New York City suffer from increased crime, the New York Police Department is trotting out its dance team. Founded in 2022 as a way for officers to unwind after shifts, the team only practices two or three times a week, after officers are done with their duties. Nevertheless, the team has drawn criticism from irate New Yorkers who are furious that the city has seen an upswing in crime and that officers are dancing rather than dealing with the crime crisis.
As background, though it has drawn particular scorn in recent days from those furious about the state of things in the decaying city, the dance team is just one of dozens competitive groups and after-hours decompression groups in the NYPD. Those include typical teams like a boxing club and football club, and less typical ones like a knitting group and chess club.
NYPD Dance Team Vice President Lauren Pagan, for her part, said that the team is a great way to unwind after a long day on the job. She said, “I’m just answering 911 jobs all day, all day, all day out of roll call until it’s time to go home. 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.”
Online commenters, however, seemed to think otherwise. In response to a post from the conservative End Wokeness X account, commenters sounded off on what looked like, to them, a waste of time and resources given New York’s crime situation.
One commenter, for example, Evander Smart, said, “New York City is burning, and the NYPD is investing in dance classes…..” Another commenter added, “NYC crime at an all-time high… people being murdered, shops looted, drugs flooding the streets, homeless crisis and the city is being overrun by illegals…The solution? NYPD Chief: Dance!”
That second comment is incorrect on multiple counts. As noted above, the dance team is just one club of many meant to help officers decompress in a healthy way. Further, though crime remains a problem in New York, data from late 2023 shows that it is down somewhat from the same time in 2022, so it is not “at an all-time high.”
However, the comment does show the anger of many watching the once-great city seemingly go downhill, particularly when the police are visibly spending time and resources on dance instead of crime fighting, even if the team is ultimately a reasonable program for helping officers.
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Pushing back on the criticism of the dance team, one commenter compared it to the football team, which has been around for decades. That commenter said, “They’ve had an NYPD football team since 1972. And they have other sports teams. Is it just the dance team that bothers you? Or all of their sports teams?”
Watch the dance team here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video