Police officers escort students with special needs to prom before joining them on the dance floor

'This prom is turnt up!'

A team of police officers in Florida took a night off from their regular duties on Saturday night to escort local high school students with special needs to their senior prom.

After one retired officer came up with the idea in a bid to ensure these students had just as much fun as everyone else, the Boynton Beach Police officers pooled together to accompany them to John I. Leonard Community High School's prom.

Documenting the occasion on their social media channels, the police officers can be seen taking to the dance floor themselves in a series of clips that have proven widely popular online.

The prom took place at the Raymond F Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach and photos uploaded to Twitter illustrate the police officers helping students with their corsages ahead of the night’s proceedings.

In a short clip, two of the police officers can be seen dancing to Big Sean’s 'Bounce Back', in a tweet captioned: “This prom is turnt up!”

Another image depicts six students and eight officers posing together at the end of the evening alongside the caption: “We came. We danced. We rocked prom.”

The idea has been widely praised on Twitter, with commenters lauding the police officers for engaging with the community in such a touching way.

“Big props to @bbpd for showing some love and making prom a very special time for some special needs kids,” wrote one person.

“What a great thing you are all doing taking these students to the prom,” added another.

It was retired officer Scott Harris' idea to escort the students; his wife is a special education teacher at the high school.

"It was a tremendous honour to be able to escort them to prom," said Stephanie Slater, public information officer.

"Their smiles, the joy... it was a life changing experience for all of us," she told The Independent.

"As much as it meant to them, it meant even more to us to be able to share prom with them."