While 2020 wasn’t filled with many positive moments, it’s safe to say that a few of them may have come from Southlake DPS. Whether its officers were filming videos, posting funny skits or sharing safety tips with the community, Southlake DPS continued to keep its citizens safe while giving them a laugh at the same time. I even got to cameo in one of their music videos myself back in May. Take a look back at Southlake DPS’ year and revisit some of their highlights of 2020.
1. Southlake DPS’ Safety Spin On Policeton
After Peloton’s viral commercial sparked conversation earlier this year, Public Information Officer Brad Uptmore saw an opportunity to capitalize on it. After sporting a sleeveless uniform, a headband and an artificial man-bun, Brad hopped on his “Policeton” and took viewers on a tour through Southlake, reminding residents to wear a helmet, watch their speed limit and look both ways before making a turn.
“Peloton was on everyone’s lips because of their 'awful' Christmas commercial, which looking back, wasn’t so awful in terms of getting the word out,” Brad says. "The video racked up around 70,000 views, and my favorite Peloton instructor gave the Southlake Police a shout out on a live ride.”
2. Officer Craig D’Amico Waiting For Citizens To Hide, Lock, Take
If there’s one thing Brad loves, it’s memes. One popular one that took the internet by storm earlier this year was the “Narcos” waiting meme, where it shows Pablo Escobar in three different poses. Brad wanted to recreate the meme with officer Craig D’Amico to remind citizens to hide their things, lock their doors and take their keys.
“While most meme accounts just changed the verbiage, I thought it would be funny to recreate the actual poses,” Brad recalls. “Meme accounts grabbed the graphic and surprise, surprise, changed the verbiage and it sent it off to the moon for the third viral post of the month.”
3. Firefighter John Angeles Takes You On A Virtual Fire Station Tour
Just because in-person tours of the Southlake fire station were canceled this year doesn't mean you couldn't get one from your desktop. In June, firefighter John Angeles gave citizens a virtual tour of the station through the facility, locker room and garage before they were taken to respond to a dumpster fire. The video got around 25,000 views and won the “Facebook Favorite” award from the Government Social Media conference.
“In the middle of the pandemic, we needed a way to deliver our public safety and education messages in a new way,” Brad says. “I had been to Disney World and Universal Studios in December 2019, so the set up for an interactive ride was still fresh in my head.”
4. YMCA And DeMarcus Ware
In October, Southlake DPS put together a YMCA-themed crosswalk safety video complete with a construction worker, a firefighter, a police officer and a cowboy — more specifically a Dallas Cowboy.
“I've had crosswalk safety as an issue to focus on, and somehow randomly had a fleeting thought of the Village People and then was like, ‘Wait what if we could use a Dallas Cowboy instead of an actual yee-haw cowboy?’” Brad says in a previous story. “Here in Southlake, there's only one Cowboy I knew that was a fan favorite, kind and might respond — easily DeMarcus Ware.”
The former linebacker helped catapult the video to over 105,000 views, reminding residents to “be-Ware” of distracted drivers while crossing.
5. The Beaver Rescue
Southlake police doesn’t just partner up with celebrities and post entertaining parodies: They also serve and protect its citizens, some with four legs and a very large tail. In November, Southlake police officers discovered a beaver trapped in a pond on Westmont Drive and was looking for ways to rescue it.
"After some insanely failed attempts at trying to net it, we got the idea to take out all of the pool floats and only leave one in and attach it to a piece of wood to form a bridge,” Brad recalls. “It was one humongous beaver.”
The beaver ended up scaling the wooden plank and made it to dry land safely. Social media campaigns come and go, but Southlake police will never get tired of helping someone in need, whether they’re a beaver or otherwise.