Shaquille O’Neal Catches Criminals, Masquerades as Underage Girl Online

by

Aug 9, 2010

If Shaquille O’Neal shows up at your door, it might not be good news.

The big man doubles as a reality television personality and all-around funnyman providing him with a wealth of options for his post-basketball career. Among them, is his childhood dream of becoming a police officer.

Back in December 2005, Shaq was officially sworn in at the Miami Beach Police Headquarters as an investigator, working with the child pornography unit. Not in it for the money, Shaq reportedly made a salary of $1.

He attended more than 1,200 hours of training and attended a Los Angeles police academy before being sworn in, according to Miami’s Local 10 news.

In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Shaq opened up about his role in catching bad guys online and a nickname most fans aren’t familiar with — Tanya.

"I play a little girl on the Internet. So whatever name I’m going by, that will probably be my catchphrase," O’Neal told Vanity Fair about what he says when arresting offenders."If I’m Tanya, then it’ll be something like, 'Tanya says hello.' And they’ll be like, 'Tanya who?' And I’ll say, 'You don’t know no Tanya, huh? I’m Tanya. Let’s go.' And that’s when the cuffs get slapped on you."

O’Neal has six children of his own and is considered a big kid himself, so it’s no wonder he has little trouble relating to youngsters — a talent that comes in handy when trying to impersonate one online.

"It’s all about understanding how they talk," he explained. "You gotta know about texting and Twittering and all the Internet slang, all the OMGs and LOLs. All that stuff."

O’Neal said he wants to focus on basketball next season and likely won’t be doing any police work in Boston, but he advised against having conversations with underage children, just in case.

"I use many different names," he warned. "It’s not always going to be Tanya. It could be anybody."

NESN.com will showcase one Moment of Shaq every day until the Celtics open the season against the Heat on Oct. 26 at the TD Garden.

Sunday, Aug. 8: Shaq trades tweets with Kim Kardashian, Lakers fans.

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