“Shaquille O’Neal Is A Reserve Police Officer In South Florida”: When Lakers Legend Turned To Community Service And Serving As A Role Model For Children

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille O’Neal is best known for his dominance on the basketball court, and then his Inside the NBA role, but he was also a police officer once.

Well, not exactly a legit police officer, but he was a member of the reserve police force in South Florida in 2015.

It’s hard to imagine the Lakers legend holding up a law-enforcement role, but it’s something he did to serve as a role model and leader for children in the community.

Shaq had also been part of the reserve police forces in other city prior to his experience in South Florida.

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Shaquille O’Neal Joins The Reserve Police Force In Florida In 2015

Shaq did not take up this role to earn more money or to serve as a police officer on the front lines, chasing down criminals and arresting them.

However, this was purely a voluntary role, something he was doing without earning any salary. The chief of police in Doral, Florida, Donald De Lucca, swore Shaq into his role.

Apart from not receving any salary, Shaq also had to cover his own insurance costs, something he could do through working with “Inside the NBA.”

As mentioned before, Shaq’s role was primarily to serve as a leader for the community. He would mostly take up jobs related to community service and was working as a role model for children there.

Shaq’s willingness to take up such a role further shows the kind of character he is, someone who’s willing to go above and beyond what people expect and do something for the benefit of others.

Shaq’s shown that he’s not going to sit around idle in his post-basketball career as he’s the star of a highly entertaining “Inside the NBA” set, perhaps the best basketball talk show to watch.

Shaq’s role in the reserve police force in South Florida wasn’t his first time either as he had previously volunteered in  Tempe, Arizona and the Port of Los Angeles.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Basketball Los Angeles Lakers NBA Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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