Bad parking, we see it every day and it can be enough to drive you nuts. But instead of getting mad, a Southlake police officer decided to have a little fun and remind us to watch out for each when pulling our cars in between the lines.
It's a little thing we learn when we're little. Be kind and stay inside the lines.
But on the streets of Southlake Town Square, it seems someone is always crossing the line.
"Especially when they park real close to my car where I can't get in. I hate that!" said Southlake driver Martell Castle.
You'll even see the occasional car edging into a handicapped space, a pet peeve for Southlake Police Officer Brad Uptmore.
"It's designated for that and it's such a simple thing," he said.
So he had an idea to post a flyer on an offending car encouraging the driver to practice coloring inside the lines of the Southlake Police patch to avoid future citations. It quickly went viral on social media.
"I've seen it on newscasts from Utah to New York," said Officer Uptmore.
To him, there's a deeper message.
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"Oh I'm just over an inch or oh I'm only going to be in the store for five seconds, well it's not all about me, me, me. We need to focus on how can we help others," Officer Uptmore said.
It's part of a social media strategy drawing attention to public safety problems while connecting with the folks they serve.
"And that breeds trust that if somebody has an issue, they feel like they can go talk to that person a lot more now that they have seen it's more than just this badge and this vest," said Officer Uptmore.
Filling in the space between police and the public and drawing us all closer together.
"If everybody acted with kindness and love we may not even need police officers," Officer Uptmore said.
Southlake Police have had posts go viral before but this one did especially well. It's been watched liked and shared more than three million times already.
