If you’ve ever driven down Highway 407 or Highway 51 recently during school traffic at Winona Elementary School, you may have seen Officer Orlando Bolden directing traffic in his own personal style. To most people, Bolden is known as the dancing cop.
At 7:10 a.m. on a Thursday, Highway 51 can be chaotic with buses arriving and departing from Winona Elementary along with a long car line wait, but Bolden does his best to make traffic run smoothly. As cars and buses pull into the school, Bolden is signaling with exaggerated hand movements for traffic to move along or stop.
What sets Bolden apart from every other officer controlling school traffic is that every now and then, Bolden will throw in one of his signature dance moves in time with his whistle.
Bolden is new to the Winona Police Department. He joined three months ago after spending a few years with the Vaiden Police Department under former police Chief Ickret Bennett.
“I got offered the job up here, and I accepted it,” he said.
Bolden, a native of Grenada, began his career with the Grenada County Sheriff’s Department as a reserve deputy, then moved to Duck Hill and worked for the Duck Hill Police Department. When the full-time position became available in Vaiden, he went to Vaiden and remained part-time in Duck Hill. He still works part-time in Duck Hill under Chief Tyler Winter.
He said that Winona is a lot busier than people expect it to be.
“You wouldn’t think it is, but it’s busy,” he said. Bolden said he likes the fact that Winona keeps him on his toes.
Bolden said when he’s on day shift, he works traffic detail when school lets out. He said at first he used the traditional method to direct traffic, however, a resident suggested he put something into it.
“Someone stopped me and told me that I had to dance with it,” Bolden said. “So, I did.”
Bolden’s dance moves have become a hit with the children.
“I love to see them smiling, that’s the best thing,” he said. “I can see them smiling and laughing as the buses pass by.”
He’s well-known for his dance moves now, and for a newbie still becoming assimilated with the community, it means a lot to him. In some communities around the country, the relationship between law enforcement and the community have become strained. For Bolden, he said his entertaining traffic control is just small of a gesture that shows another side of law enforcement and that everything doesn’t have to be so uptight and wound up.
It’s also a way for those in the community to get to know him and visa and versa to help form long-lasting relationships with the public.
“When it’s time for business, then we (police) have to get down to business. But, we can also have fun,” he said.
The Winona Police Department posted a video of Bolden in action while directing traffic on social media. “I knew when they put it on social media, it was going to go viral,” he said laughing.
Now he is recognized every day, and no, he said doesn’t mind being known as the dancing cop.
