Halifax Police Department hands out ice cream cones instead of traffic tickets

HALIFAX (WSLS 10) - The Facebook video of a traffic stop in Halifax has gone viral, but not for the reason you might think.

The driver may think she's about to get a ticket, but that's not what happened.

"Her reaction was priceless," said Halifax police officer Brian Warner. "We watched it over and over again and we had smiles on our faces for the rest of the day."

Warner is the officer in the video seen talking to the driver.

On this traffic stop, he had something much sweeter than a ticket in store for the driver and passenger, an ice cream cone.

"It's been a hot couple of days and the chief and I were having breakfast and we decided that we'd try to get some smiles and cool everybody off," Warner explained.

Chief Kevin Lands never expected the video to go viral, but he's glad it did.

"It seems to have maybe jump-started or helped start a different dialogue where people can see that police officers are humans. We're people just like everyone else," said Lands.

He added that he has gotten positive comments from people all around the world, including Cambodia and several countries in Europe.

All told, about 20 ice cream cones were handed out to people who were pulled over for minor violations.

This was the first time the officers had filmed themselves doing something like this, but Sgt. Stuart Comer emphasizes that it's not the first time they've tried to spread a little positivity.

"When it snows, during inclement weather, we've had people in town say 'hey, I can't get out of my driveway but I'm a nurse and I have to get to work.' We're like, 'it's no problem. We'll come, we'll take you to work,'" explained Cromer.

An attitude that is getting the department recognized for all the right reasons.