A video of a Los Angeles police officer joining a garage rock band’s jam session has been shared online.
Sheriff’s Deputy Miguel Garcia was wrapping up an investigation in the Compton neighbourhood with his partner when he overheard teenage band Misled Youth rehearsing in their back garden down the street. He decided to pay the group a visit – and started playing guitar with them.
He tells CBS: “I was goofing off and I told my partner, ‘Wow they sound really good.’
Garcia, who can be heard playing The Offspring song The Kids Aren’t Alright in the clip, recalls getting his first guitar aged 15, and says that music shaped his adolescence.
Garcia tells CBS: “It only made sense to encourage the members of the band. It’s better they’re here than on the streets.”
He adds: “I didn’t become a police officer to go out there and start arresting everyone. I became a police officer because I absolutely have an overwhelming love for people.”
Last November, Florida police officer Andrew Ricks was sacked after joining metal outfit Vital Remains onstage for their song Let The Killing Begin.
Police Chief Cecil B Smith said at the time: “An incident of this nature erodes the thin fibres of trust which already exist between the community and the police.”
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