A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police's rural crime action team (RCAT) has said enduring the criticism for dancing at Lincoln Pride was 'worth it' in order to build trust with the community.
A video showing four Lincolnshire Police officers dancing the Macarena at the Pride event on Saturday, August 20 has proven controversial and attracted national attention on social media platforms.
It quickly went viral on both Facebook and Twitter, being watched more than one-and-a-half million times.
While many were supportive, others, such as political commentators Peter Hitchens and Julia Hartley-Brewer, criticised the officers for 'flouting' their responsibility.
But members of the force, including Chief Constable Chris Haward, are standing firm, saying community engagement is just as important as policing crime.
"We'd gladly meet with you and talk about why we feel such engagement, under those circumstances, was absolutely spot-on," he wrote.
Sir David Thompson, the chief constable of neighbouring West Midlands police, also stuck up for the four dancing officers and said he was "sick" of police "being used as a culture war football". »