PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) – You’re probably used to seeing police officers around town, or in everyone's favorite spot - on the side of the highway when they pull you over.
A Portland Police Officer is getting recognized for an entirely different reason: his angelic voice.
He's become an overnight internet sensation.
When Officer Jeremy Turner's partner cracked a joke about singing while out on foot patrol in the Old Port, he never knew what was coming.
Turner stood in Tommy’s Park and sang a chilling rendition of “O Holy Night.”
“[People] started to stop and look, and some were pulling out their phones, so we went with it,” Turner explained.
At the end of the video, the crowd gives a huge applause.
While his fellow officer may have been joking when he suggested singing, Officer Turner knew it was his secret weapon. “I've been singing since I was 6-years-old, and I went to the University of Southern Maine and have a degree in music performance,” he explained. Turner graduated and went on to become a dispatcher, then a police officer.
The video went viral overnight – with tens of thousands of views from all over the country.
The positive attention is more than welcomed by Turner's boss, Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck. “It humanizes law enforcement officers at a completely different level,” he explained. He said the bubbly, smiling Turner is 100% genuine. “That's who Jeremy Turner is,” he said. “That's the real deal. He's always smiling, he's always laughing.”
NEWS CENTER’s Kristina Rex even convinced Turner for a reprise performance – this time of “Silent Night.” Watch their duet below.
For some officers, the singing wasn’t a surprise. Turner also sang the National Anthem at his graduation from the police academy.
He says he's considering serenading some people at traffic stops.