Florida Cops Attend Prom With Special Needs Students

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — With prom season in full bloom, a group of South Florida special needs students found themselves without dates Saturday for one of the biggest nights of their lives. That's when Boynton Beach police cut in. The officers busted some moves in full uniform to give the students a senior prom they won't soon forget.

"There was no shortage of volunteers," recalled Stephanie H. Slater of the Boynton Beach Police Department, who responded to the unusual call along with 10 uniformed officers over the weekend at the John I. Leonard High School prom.

The officers first met up with the six special needs students for photos at the high school campus in nearby Greenacres, Florida, before heading to the beach-themed event at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

The special students and their teachers made quite the entrance in a police van.

"We got there and we all just immediately hit the dance floor," said Slater. "The reaction from the students that we escorted was pure joy. The smiles never left their faces — or ours."

The officers posted videos of some of their favorite dance moves on social media. The videos were being shared across the United States by Monday.

Slater told Patch that police were alerted to the need for prom dates by a retired officer, whose wife is a teacher in the Exceptional Student Education Program. "It was his idea to see if we could escort six of these students to their prom," Slater explained.

All of the officers, who heeded the call, were off the clock for the event. But the police presence caught some other students off guard.

"They were kind of wondering why the cops were at their prom," Slater explained. "But, once they saw who we were there with, I think they understood."

They jumped right in with the officers on the dance floor.

"It was awesome," Slater added. "They all had pretty sweet moves."

Watch more video of the prom below:

Photo and videos courtesy Boynton Beach Police Department