At Policeman’s Ball, officers show off fancy footwork

Rochester police Officer Manny Ortiz lifts Megan Seely of the Arthur Murray Dance Studio during the Dancing With The Law competition. (JAY CAPERS staff photographer)

Rochester police Officer Bing Reaves Jr. joked that if he won the “Dancing with the Law” competition at Saturday night’s Policeman’s Ball, he was going to celebrate by eating a dozen doughnuts.

Reaves came up just short, finishing in second place behind an officer who could not be identified because of her undercover work.

But he’d have been forgiven if he indulged in a doughnut binge anyway. The two months of training sessions he went through at Arthur Murray Dance Studio to prepare for the event saw him shed 15 pounds.

The dance-off was the highlight of the third annual Policeman’s Ball, which drew 750 people to the Riverside Convention Center. The event, which also featured a charity casino, live entertainment and a silent auction, was hosted by the Badge of Honor Association to raise money for its charitable causes and for the  Autism Council of Rochester.

“Police have the power to bring people together to help people, and what better way to help a great charity than like this,” said Officer Justin Collins, the president of the Badge of Honor Association.

It was the third year that the Badge of Honor Association has hosted the ball, which drew police officers from 14 area departments. In 2009, the event raised $20,000 for the association and last year’s co-charity, Hunter’s Hope Foundation.

David Paterson was on hand to express his support for the Badge of Honor Association, which was founded by Collins in 2007 to raise money for families of fallen police officers. Speaking from the podium during dinner, Paterson recounted his two trips to Rochester in the past year to visit Officer Anthony DiPonzio, who was shot in the back of the head last January.

DiPonzio attended the ball and was seen walking around and socializing with fellow officers. When his name was mentioned alongside Officers Luca Martini and Daniel Brochu, who were shot while responding to a home invasion in December, the attendees gave the trio a lengthy standing ovation.

The silent auction featured a variety of electronics, firearms and sports memorabilia. For attendees who were interested in emulating the salsa, cha-cha and rumba dances they saw during the contest, there was also a 60-lesson dance package auctioned off by Arthur Murray Dance Studios, whose franchisee Tiffany Nuessle estimated that she’d donated $9,000 to the event between the package and the free lessons that her studios offered to the “Dancing with the Law” participants.

Mike Lesniak, a lieutenant for the Rochester Police Department, has attended the Policeman’s Ball since it started in 2008, and said events like this were important for the morale of officers.

Said Lesniak: “I’ve been on for 27 years, and since I started, it’s the first time they’ve had such a nice social event.”

By Sean Dobbin

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