In the action-packed police recruitment video above, badass officers pull guns, scale walls and are armed with vicious dogs. Funny enough on its own, the cheeseball 80s-esque video is made golden by the fact that its supposedly portraying the life of a cop in one of the ritziest beachside cities in Southern California -- Newport Beach.
The video, set to speed-chase-scene thumping music, portrays the Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) as a merciless team of all-white men risking their lives to save yours. In reality, in 2009, the wealthy Orange County city had zero murders and a violent crime rate that was 66.9% lower than California's average, according to FBI statistics.
The no-nonsense "Are You Qualified?" video went viral after it was posted on The Agitator alongside its video opposite: a police recruitment video from the Decatur Police Department in Georgia.
In contrast, Decatur's video (below) features a bicycling cop waving to friendly neighbors, laughing smiling women and an affectionate nose nuzzle with a dog. The department describes itself as "emphathetic," as country music plays in the background.
One commenter on The Agitator's story tore apart the NBPD's image:
I have lived in Newport Beach. [There are] no gangs (or poor people)… The police there are well known to be overbearing and treat the smallest violations like violent felonies... they normally hang around the beach and harass young people who come to the beach to have fun... any black or hispanic visitors are considered suspicious and treated as probable criminals.
Another, less serious commenter, joked, "Newport Beach: where your Call of Duty Live Action Roleplaying dreams come true. Tired of sitting on your mom’s couch capping pretend bad guys and screaming a stream of obscenities while you do so? How about getting off that couch and coming to work for us?"
Here's Decatur's recruitment video, featuring lots of helmets and heartfelt sentiment:
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