IACP 2025 Quick Take: How Taylor Swift helped the Toronto Police Service go viral — and recruit women

DENVER — During Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour stops in Toronto, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) did more than manage crowd control. They created a viral community engagement moment that connected officers and fans in a way no campaign or budget could have planned.

What began as a creative idea from a newly hired “Swifty” staffer — giving officers friendship bracelets to trade with fans — became a global sensation. Mounted Unit horses wore oversized friendship bracelets labeled Reputation and Debut, referencing Swift’s re-recorded albums of her earlier releases. Fans immediately began speculating that the bracelets were a clue about which album Swift would announce next — a theory that sent engagement soaring, with the initiative generating nearly a billion impressions and tens of millions of dollars in earned media.

During a session at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, TPS Director of Corporate Communications Natalie Clancy and TPS Chief Superintendent Kelly Skinner shared how a lighthearted idea built trust, boosted morale and opened new doors for recruiting women into policing.

Memorable quotes from the session

“What you’ve done tonight has changed everything about how I feel about law enforcement.” — Young Taylor Swift fan, as recalled by Chief Superintendent Kelly Skinner

“This was a rare opportunity to have some fun, show the human side of police officers and make our fans feel safe.” — Natalie Clancy

Top takeaways on viral engagement and recruitment

1. Authenticity wins the internet

TPS could have pushed out its own content, but instead it let the story unfold through fans. The decision to stay silent on official channels until the public noticed allowed the moment to feel spontaneous and real.

“They found it cool, and we let them speculate about the bracelets,” Clancy said. “It was far more powerful when it came from them.”

The payoff was enormous. Influencers with millions of followers posted videos asking, “What do these police horses know?” and “Did Taylor tell the chief something?” The photos quickly went viral, with The New York Post and Page Six picking up the story.

2. Positivity builds pride

When Skinner suggested turning the viral moment into a recruitment opportunity, 25 female officers and civilian staff volunteered within minutes. Wearing friendship bracelets, they mingled with fans at a nearby Taylor Swift event for those who couldn’t get concert tickets.

For officers, the experience provided a welcome shift from months of negativity. “The smiles on the officers’ faces — the energy — it was unbelievable,” Skinner said. “After so many protests downtown, this was something different.”

The reaction from young women was immediate. “They see female officers and civilians in different roles — dispatchers, forensic techs — and they start asking questions,” Skinner said. “Representation matters. You can’t be it unless you can see it.”

Officers described the night as joyful, even restorative. “One of our members said, ‘This is the best sleepover I’ve ever been to,’” Skinner laughed. “That’s the kind of connection we needed — internally and externally.”

Following the event, TPS received 57 applications for its next recruit class — double the number of women from the previous session.

3. Humor and culture can rebuild trust

By embracing Taylor Swift’s pop-culture world — crafting social media posts that used lyrics from Swift’s top hits — the department found a way to be relatable without compromising professionalism.

“We talk all the time about whether humor has a place in policing,” Clancy said. “This showed that when you take a small risk and do it with heart, it can work.”

Fans began defending the department online. When one commenter complained about “wasting taxpayers’ money on bracelets,” others replied that the concerts had generated tens of millions for the local economy and praised police for adding joy to the event.

4. Say yes to low-risk, high-reward ideas

At the core of the success was leadership support. “We had a chief who said yes,” Clancy recalled. “He took the meeting on a busy day. That made all the difference.”

The campaign didn’t require a marketing budget or outside agency. It only needed permission to act quickly — and the confidence to trust creative instincts.

“We didn’t pay for any of this,” Clancy emphasized. “No Facebook ads, no promotion — just a simple human idea.”

5. Keep the momentum going

The viral success reinforced TPS’s video-first strategy, led by Clancy. Since the Eras Tour, TPS has seen increased engagement across platforms, including a 35% rise in Instagram interactions and rapid growth on TikTok.

“We were talking to young women in a way we had never talked to them before,” Clancy said. “And now, our videos — even the serious ones — are performing better because people see us differently.”

What’s next for TPS

The communications team isn’t slowing down. Following their Eras Tour success, Clancy and her personnel have been quick to jump on new cultural moments — including playful social media exchanges with the Toronto Blue Jays. When a Blue Jays player joked about celebrating a win by riding a police horse, TPS responded with a lighthearted video featuring the Mounted Unit and an invitation to “bring the World Series back to Toronto.” The post went viral, earning hundreds of thousands of views and reinforcing the department’s reputation for creative, good-humored community engagement.

During the IACP session, Clancy joked that she was hoping for a Blue Jays win that night — and she got her wish! Keep an eye on their social media channels for more playful interactions with the Blue Jays and other cultural moments that keep the conversation around policing positive, authentic and human.

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What’s one simple, creative idea your agency has used to build positive connections with your community?