A candid photo of a Halifax police officer has made its rounds on the internet, spawning an overnight celebrity in the process.
The photo shows a uniformed Constable Shawn Currie relaxing casually on a city sidewalk, his outstretched legs crossed at the ankles as he chats with a street performer on Spring Garden Road. Federal worker Bruno Baurin captured a candid photo of the unlikely pair while on his lunch break.
“Here’s a great image of two people from two different worlds… that took the time to share something in common,” said Baurin. “One’s trying to survive, and the other one is trying to help the other one survive.”
“Sometimes you just need someone to talk to or someone to listen,” added Baurin.
After posting the photo on social media, users began to flood the comments section with enthusiastic approval of the officer’s compassion.
“This is an awesome picture… [it] shows compassion and a dedication to his job,” Facebook user Fern McCuish wrote. “It is better to be on a human level for situations like this and not look down from above in an authoritative manner. Well done officer.”
With society so used to seeing negative images and videos of police officers, it’s refreshing to discover the Canadian officer in a moment of good judgment.
“Police officers don’t always get the due they deserve,” says Baurin. “People might have negative views on both (the officer and the busker). You can see that everyone’s human.”
And as we’ve learned over the years, any good viral photo will inevitably evolve into a meme – just check the hashtag #HaliCop.
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