Halifax cop shows it’s cool to be kind
Picture that went viral ‘too positive not to share’
For Halifax police Const. Shawn Currie, Thursday afternoon was just like any other day on the job. Patrol the city. Be approachable. Talk to people.
And if it meant sitting down on the sidewalk to chat one on one with a panhandler, so be it. But when a photo of Currie doing just that was posted online, social media users called it a special street moment worthy of celebration.
In less than a day, the image claiming to be iconic of Maritime values had already amassed more than 1,500 likes on Facebook and had been retweeted hundreds of times on Twitter.
But according to the uniformed subject at the centre of the photo, the pair know each other well and talk weekly.
“We sat down and started to have a conversation about what is going on in his life — nothing specific,” he said of the half-hour chat.
Currie added the bearded man plays his violin at the street corner on Spring Garden Rd., Halifax’s equivalent to Yonge St. They first ran into each other nine years ago when Currie transitioned into his current role as a community officer.
A former officer with Toronto police’s 55 Division, Currie said that while he was a bit overwhelmed by the photo’s popularity online, he nevertheless appreciated the warm reaction.
“It’s important we draw attention that there is a different side to police rather than just making arrests,” he said.
“We have to remember that people (are) out there on the street, panhandling for a variety of reasons, and enforcement isn’t always the answer.
“It isn’t something you see on daily basis,” he said. “Two people from different walks of life but on the same level, talking to one another and having a chat.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Bruno Baurin, the passerby who snapped the photo. He didn’t think twice before posting it to social media because the image, he told the Star, was “too positive not to share.”
It was also timely. Baurin said local concerns surfaced last week about homeless people and panhandlers’ impact on businesses in the area.
“The response from Halifax police is that you just can’t arrest and sweep them under the rug,” he said. “We are a community.”
For Currie, it’s not the first time he’s cinched some Internet fame.
Last year, he was photographed giving a “ticket” to a 3-year-old who had “illegally stopped” his plastic motorcycle at the Halifax waterfront. The hilariously cute snapshot quickly proved to be a hit and quickly won the hearts (and likes) of social media users around the world.