'Shake It Off' cop hopes viral video helps 'get a little tarnish off the badge'

The Delaware police officer who has become a viral video sensation for his lip-sync rendition of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" from behind the wheel of his cruiser says he did it, in part, to help improve the image of police around the country.

"It's nice to get the word out there and get a little positive attention for the police department," Master Cpl. Jeff Davis of the Dover Police Department said on NBC's "Today" show. "For us, get a little tarnish off the badge and shine it up a bit, because we've been getting a lot of negative publicity. Police in general [have] been getting crazy negative publicity."

Davis, a father of four, said that when his department picked him for the task, to boost its Facebook ratings, he already knew most of the words to Swift's hit because his daughter "loves her."

Besides, Davis said, "I'm kind of a crazy kind of guy anyway. I like to have fun. When they picked me, I was 100 percent for it."

The video of Davis rocking out to the pop song has racked up more than 20 million views since it was posted by the department to YouTube on Saturday, garnering high praise around the world — even from Swift herself.

But according to Davis, the most gratifying response came from a French police officer who said he was working at France's central law enforcement office and wrote: "In a time of trouble in the Paris area, we all greatly appreciate this moment of bliss."