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Buffalo singing cop talks life after Ellen: ‘This is everything I’ve ever dreamed of doing’

One minute you’re patrolling the streets and singing your favorite songs with your partner by your side, the next you’re on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. That’s exactly what happened to Buffalo Police Officers Moe Badger and Mike Norwood just a few months ago after a video of the unstoppable duo singing in a restaurant went viral. Sweet Buffalo was one of the first to share the incredible news with you and now we sat down with Badger to discuss what life has been like after the show!

Last time we spoke, you were on The Ellen Show and she surprised you and your partner with a check for $10,000 for your nonprofit, C.O.P.S.S. What has life been like since then? 

“It’s been a whirlwind. Literally when we went on the show, people said when you go on Ellen, it changes your life. I said, I don’t know about that. I’ve met a lot of people, seen a lot of things. But literally it’s really changed a lot for what we do, especially around here. It’s been really amazing just to see the people embrace what’s going on. The people of Buffalo made this movement, not us. The love that they have for their city and how proud they are of us being on there kind of made this into a movement and now it’s just like everywhere we go we’re getting love shown to us and total strangers running up to hug us, so it’s really been a great thing. We’re getting calls from all over in Los Angeles and Miami and overseas to sing and talk to kids. Wherever it may be, literally from all across the world we are getting calls, so it’s really awesome.”

I saw the Singing Cops performed at Kiss the Summer Hello! You did a great job! 

“That was definitely an awesome experience, Kiss the Summer Hello. We also did the Fourth of July, which they estimated was 20,000 or more people out there. Not all of them were looking at us at that time, but a lot of people did stop and listen, so that was cool. We actually did the Tall Ships, we’ve done the Bills Training Camp. That was awesome. It’s really too much stuff to even talk about. Literally every weekend we’re doing something. We did our first wedding the other day, so that was cool. Mike has never sung at a wedding, so for me to be able to experience that with him, and he did a great job, that was awesome as well.”

I remember in our last interview you mentioned you gave up singing and going on tour because you wanted stability for your family, so you became a cop. Now it seems you have the best of both worlds! 

“I have to give thanks to God. I don’t know what everyone believes out there, but I definitely believe this is something that God blessed me with. I believe this from the bottom of my heart because I wanted to always sing, but I loved my family and my wife more than singing. I knew at that point, yeah this dream is great, and I was traveling and getting paid to do it, but I didn’t have insurance, I didn’t have stability. So, in order for me to get stability, I got a real job and now it just seems like it’s come back full circle. I’m traveling and singing again and have good benefits with it!”

So, I take it you’re a big believer in it’s never too late to pursue your dreams? 

“Never. I just think…I’m kind of at a loss for words just because this is everything I’ve ever dreamed of doing and I never thought it would come through. I actually took this job to say that’s over and now for these major doors to be opening in front of me now is really cool.”

What’s in store for the future? You and Mike just released your first single!

“Yes! The single is called ‘Different’ and it’s literally about just doing something different. I think the person who originally started writing it, he saw what we were doing and he said this is something different. One of the catches is if you do something different, you can get it right. And we truly believe that. We’ve done something right because we’ve done something different. Even though a lot of people kind of frowned upon us singing, or frowned upon us having fun with kids while at work, or laughing and joking at work, us doing that has allowed us to get some things right in our community.”

Any big plans in the works for your nonprofit, C.O.P.S.S (Children Overcoming Police Stereotypes Through Sports)?

“We actually have a bunch of events coming up. We just did a celebrity basketball game. We have the Friday Night Under the Lights, which is actually happening this Friday. We are definitely excited about that. We are working on a teen summit for back to school and a back-to-school bookbag giveaway. So, anything we can do to engage the community and definitely engage youth. I think if you can catch them when they are young and change their perspective about you, I think it goes a long way. And that’s what we’ve been trying to do and I think slowly but surely we’re accomplishing it.”

Anything else you want our readers to know? 

“We want to thank the community, especially Kimberly, thank you. You were one of the ones who got the story and ran with it and said, hey can I put this up? Sure. Can I put this up? And that just spread the word of what we’re trying to do. I mean we’re just trying to use the singing as a vehicle to affect change and I think we are seeing that. But because of people like you and all the shares and the retweets and all the posts and people watching the videos, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot of things that we’ve never thought within our first two years of starting our not-for-profit.”

For more information on the good work Moe Badger and Mike Norwood are doing in the community with C.O.P.P.S., visit www.copssny.org/ and give them a “Like” on Facebook: www.facebook.com/copssny/

Singing Buffalo police officers to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Ellen donates $10,000 to singing Buffalo police officers’ charity

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