Watch this D.C. cop do gymnastics with local kids
A Facebook video shows a police officer doing gymnastics, connecting with kids.
An officer with the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department used an unorthodox method to connect with local kids -- by engaging in a spirited flipping competition with them.
Officer Arthur Brown Jr. can be seen on a Facebook video doing acrobatics against some of the children.
It begins with one boy rounding off, before landing feet first from a backflip. Brown can then be seen stretching, clearing himself ample runway and performing a somersault backflip of his own, all in full uniform. Off camera, he'd handed his belt to his partner.
"The hardest part is trying to connect to the community,” Brown told ABC News.
He patrols Washington D.C.’s Seventh District, east of the Anacostia River, on a mountain bike. Stopping to shoot hoops or race bicycles down the street is just a part of community outreach.
"I'm not going to change who I am just because I've got a badge," he said.
Before he was a police officer, Brown worked with children as a volunteer for youth church services, and later as a barber.
"Kids are more open-minded than adults," Brown said of their role in community policing. "They help us change adults', parents' minds."