Days after Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced he'd be booting Suns center Shaquille O'Neal from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Tempe police say he'll continue to volunteer for their department.

"That was an issue between Sheriff Joe and Shaq," Tempe police Lt. Mike Horn said. "There's been no change in his status nor do we expect any."

O'Neal signed up to volunteer with the Tempe Police Department last month.

His fallout with Arpaio came after the release of a video on celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com that featured the 36-year-old basketball star rapping that Lakers star Kobe Bryant couldn't win the NBA finals without him and using a racial slur. The sheriff's office had made O'Neal a special deputy in January 2006and promoted him to colonel earlier this month.

After Arpaio announced he would be taking away O'Neal's two badges, a Bedford County, Va. sheriff also terminated its relationship with the basketball star.

Horn said Tempe police are in the process of determining what O'Neal's role will be at their department and hope to begin working with him this summer.