((PKG)) NYPD Officer and DJ
((Banner: Speaking of Resumes))
((Reporter: Evgeny Maslov))
((Camera: Michael Eckels))
((Adapted by: Ailin Li))
((Map: New York City))
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((Banner: New York City Police Lieutenant Acu Rhodes takes his hobby as a DJ seriously. He is also known as DJ Ace))
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((Lt. Acu Rhodes, NYPD))
When I was about 10 years old, the movie Beat Street along with the group Run-D.M.C. and also the group UTFO. The DJs in those groups and the DJ in the movie kind of inspired me to become a scratch DJ.
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((Lt. Acu Rhodes, NYPD))
My preference would be hip-pop, old school hip pop maybe from the 80s, 90s hip-pop but in my record collection, I have pretty much everything you could imagine. I have Reggae, you know. I have Disco. I have Rock. You name the genre, I pretty much have it.
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((Lt. Acu Rhodes, NYPD))
Everything started I would say about five years ago. My boss Chief Maddrey, along with retired detective Todd Taylor, they came up with the concept of a kids-cops DJ bout. It was an event where the cops couldn’t really win the battle, but they would get a chance to showcase their skills. The video from that event went viral and I got a lot of notoriety. So since then, I’ve been doing a lot of community events in uniform, DJ-ing also.
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((Lt. Acu Rhodes, NYPD))
People’s reaction is, you know, they can’t really believe it, you know. Some people don’t think I’m a real police officer, and people are very comfortable approaching me after seeing me DJ-ing in uniform. They are very comfortable talking to me, asking me different questions, and you know, I get a chance to tell them that it’s just not me, you know, that’s a decent person. I say 99.9 percent of the police force, you know, they are like me, regular folks.
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((Lt. Acu Rhodes, NYPD))
Community policing is a direction that the department is going at the moment and the job embraces that I do this. I have made a lot of friends over the years. I met them at different events, and it’s just a great thing for the department in general.
((Banner: Lieutenant Rhodes says his DJ work has helped in unexpected ways))
((Lt. Acu Rhodes, NYPD))
The individual actually recognized me from the neighborhood. He became very calm. I asked him to put the knife down. He immediately put the knife down and we built up a rapport. We got the individual some help, took him to the hospital and we actually became friends from that day. I used to check on him regularly, every week, and it turns out he was a Vietnam veteran. So, I told him I was in the Marines, and that built up our relationship even more.
