Shaquille O’Neal, Who Earns $1 As A Cop, Pretended To Be A Child To Catch Online S*xual Predators

Shaquille O’Neal has dipped his toes in quite nearly every single facet of life. Since getting drafted into the NBA 30 years ago by the Orlando Magic, Shaq has stayed in the spotlight every step of the way. He’s done so through both his on-court brilliance and off-court endeavors. 

There isn’t a whole lot O’Neal hasn’t ‘indulged’ in, in these past 3 decades. He’s gone on WWE, gotten arrested in the UK for bumping into a royal guard, and taken part in countless advertisements, much to Charles Barkley’s dismay. 

Though, one thing that often gets overlooked is the fact that Shaq is a police officer. It started when he attended the Los Angeles County’s Reserve Academy and was named an honorary US Deputy Marshall. However, upon his trade to the Miami Heat, he would soon get a job as an actual officer with the Miami Beach Police Department. 

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Shaquille O’Neal was tasked with bringing down child s*x predators online 

While being a police officer brings in a lot of praise, you’ve also got to put in the work to be deemed worthy of said praise. On most occasions, the work is most certainly not pretty. Back in 2005, Shaquille O’Neal took it upon himself to help curb the spread of child s*x predators online. 

The internet was still very much in its infancy during the early to mid 2000s and so online chat rooms were quite common back then. This allowed Shaq to pose as a child himself to catch these people in the act of committing a crime. 

“It’s very disturbing to see that anyone would want to harm a child, especially in a s*xual manner. Very, very disturbing. I don’t like to give away my secrets, but I just say ‘Hi’. They ask how old I am and they get right into it. 98% of it is s*xual right away.” 

How did Shaquille O’Neal start off as a cop? 

Shortly after arriving in Miami from Los Angeles, Shaq helped the Miami Beach PD track down a man who was charged with aggravated assault towards a gay couple. He reportedly yelled homophobic slurs at them and even threw a bottle at the two of them. 

O’Neal saw it all unfold at 3am and followed the man in his car until authorities could come apprehend the man. Soon after, he was honored by the police department. Funnily enough, Shaq’s salary as a police officer is exactly $1 a year.

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