Shaq meets Roeland Park police chief. ‘When I was coming up, people respected the police’

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal met up with a KC-area police chief in Philadelphia earlier this month.

Shaq was attending the International Association of Police Chiefs conference when he was offered a Roeland Park police patch, the department shared on its Facebook page.

The moment was captured in a photo taken by Roeland Park Police Chief John Morris.

“Chief Morris got to meet Shaq and shared one of our patches with him,” the department wrote.

The Big Diesel has a long history dabbling in law enforcement. He’s a reserve police officer in south Florida and has been sworn in as a Georgia deputy.

He dropped in on the Gainesville (Fla.) Police Department to praise an officer who shot hoops with some kids in 2016, the Washington Post reported.

And earlier this year, the Post reported he’s planning to run for sheriff, possibly in his home jurisdiction of Henry County, Ga., in 2020.

“This is not about politics. This is about bringing people closer together,” he said in his sheriff announcement. “You know, when I was coming up, people love and respected the police, the deputies. And, I want to be the one to bring that back, especially in the community I serve.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Shaq meets Roeland Park police chief. ‘When I was coming up, people respected the police’."