Newport police recruiting video mocked, then goes viral

A Newport Beach Police Department recruiting video portraying officers scaling walls, shooting guns and letting loose vicious dogs went viral after being mocked by news websites such as the Huffington Post and The Agitator.

Uploaded in 2008, the video is titled “Are You Qualified” and begins with officers suiting up for duty.

A uniformed police officer yells to a crowd, “This is the Orange County Police Academy. You have six months to get it right!”

Officers are seen yelling and sirens blare throughout the video, dramatizing the day -- and the night -- in a life of the Newport Beach Police Department.

At 45 seconds into the video, an officer releases an angry dog on an unidentified leg. At the one-minute, officers are storming a room in full SWAT gear.

The video ends with the words, “NBPD: Careers with purpose” flashing on screen.

Despite the dramatics of the video, Newport Beach Police Department’s most reported crime in 2011 was burglary or theft from a motor vehicle.

“Newport Beach: where your Call of Duty Live Action Roleplaying dreams come true,” wrote user Christopher Swing on The Agitator.

“This video was not designed to represent the daily job of a NBPD police officer, nor was it intended as a PR video for the public,” said Kathy Lowe, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Police Department.

“It was created as a recruitment video for those wanting to become police officers and to demonstrate the training involved in becoming a police officer,” she said.

This story was reported by Times Staff Writer Melissa Leu.