NYPD Detective’s Dance Video Sparks Debate: ‘Loses All Credibility’

A clip of NYPD Detective Melissa Mercado dancing in a music video has created a furious debate on the internet. Mercado, an NYPD Special Victims Unit detective, was seen doing a pole dance in a semi-nude outfit in the video for Doin That by Hempstead rapper S-Quire. The clip has gone viral, with many questioning whether it undermines her credibility as a police officer.

Mercado, who makes $144,000 annually and has been on the NYPD since 2018, is a grade 3 detective in the Bronx Special Victims Unit. Her name is not referenced in the video, but law enforcement sources verified she is the woman in the video. A number of officers opine that the matter should not be made public, contending that Mercado is not clad in any NYPD equipment in the video and it does not bear any relation to her being a detective. An explanation was offered by a source in the police union, saying, “What she’s doing really has nothing to do with her as an employee, as an NYC detective. She’s not wearing NYPD paraphernalia. Nothing in the video says she’s a detective.”

The same source went on to say, “If she is working for pay, if she has a side job, the job would like to know about it. The member would be required to submit an off-duty employment application. I would say nothing she does in the video is the department’s business.” Another source came to the defense of Mercado, pointing out that she has made “some good collars” and is “respected by her peers.”

But retired Special Victims Division Chief Michael Osgood had some doubts, calling Mercado’s involvement in the video ‘unbecoming of a police officer’ and morally wrong, especially since she is a special victims detective. Osgood said, “There’s a line of thinking that what you do off duty, you do off duty. But I think this conduct is unbecoming of a police officer. I find it wrong morally if you’re a special victims detective.”

The issue has polarised views among members of the public online, some stating that how she spends her leisure time is not anybody else’s business so long as she isn’t committing anything illegal, and others feel it is demeaning the police service.

One of the posts said, “Not a good look for the department,” and another said, “You lose all credibility and make the department bad when you misbehave in public debauchery. They really want to do whatever they want and never have to deal with the consequences.”

Standing up for her, another person said, “I don’t understand how it’s their concern as long as she’s off duty and not doing anything illegal which she doesn’t seem to be.”

This is not the first scandal involving an NYPD officer off-duty. The New York Post covered a 2023 incident where a new officer was seen dancing with a fare jumper at a subway station and a 2022 matter in which another officer gave a married lieutenant a lap dance at a police event. Also, in 2018, two female officers were reprimanded for taking pictures with a nearly naked male stripper at a Mother’s Day event.