As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office is the latest local law enforcement agency to take up the "running man" video challenge – producing a five-minute dance video.
The national craze caught fire locally in the Monroe Police Department, whose video has been viewed more than half a million times. Gwinnett's video features a crime thwarted when the would-be thief can't help but dance to the Ghost Town DJ's song "My Boo," plus a courtroom finale in which District Attorney Danny Porter himself catches boogie fever.
The video drew plenty of applause on Facebook, but also some questions. Like: Why are you wasting our tax dollars on this?
On Thursday Porter told the AJC no public money used to produce the video.
“We used an empty courtroom,” Porter said in an e-mail. “The videographer volunteered. Every employee volunteered. The locations were in parking lots or our office.”
The Monroe Police Department made a similar disclaimer about its video on Facebook.
*This video is a nonprofit production,” the Monroe department said. “No tax dollars or private funds were spent in the making of this video - volunteer work only.”
The departments said they were inspired to put a human face on law enforcement.
“Finding a small moment, like the one displayed here, to laugh and have fun is a rare opportunity that should be commemorated and not ridiculed in that their efforts are extremely dangerous and constantly have to endure extreme mental and physical stress on a daily basis,” the Monroe departments said on Facebook.
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