Bodycam Shows Cop Use "Feline Unit" Video of Utah police department’s ‘feline unit’ traffic stop goes viral Officer Froo Froo, a 'drug-sniffing feline,' assists in April Fool's Day prank SALINA, Utah — Several unsuspecting motorists were in for quite the experience on April Fools’ Day when they were approached by the “feline unit” of Salina City Police Department, and the video of the cat-assisted “drug search” has gone viral with more than 2 million views. The video posted to the department’s Facebook page shows an officer stopping a vehicle for speeding, reportedly for going 11 miles per hour over the speed limit. After asking about the odor he was smelling, the officer asks for permission to conduct a search with his feline partner, “Froo Froo.” “So I’m going to deploy my cat around the outside of your vehicle, and if the cat indicates the odor of a controlled substance we’re gonna go from there, OK,” he says on the video. The officer then retrieves a cat that he claims is trained to respond to Dutch commands and will meow three times when it smells controlled substances. “My feline is certified to indicate at the odor of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine,” the officer adds. The officer then conducts the “drug search”, but eventually he can’t contain his laughter and lets the folks in the SUV in on the joke, asking them if they forgive him for indulging in a prank he’s wanted to attempt for a long time. The driver was let off with a warning for speeding. According to the Facebook video posted by the department, the officer in the video made the video on his own time and using gas he paid for, so no tax dollars were spent on the prank. SALINA, Sevier County — If his wife hadn't been running late, Salina Police Chief Eric Pratt might not have had the opportunity to pull an epic April Fools' Day prank that's gone viral. "I get off work the same time as my wife and my wife was running late and it was April Fools' and I have a half hour to kill. I said 'You know what? I'm just going to do it.' " The end result was a video of a traffic stop captured on Pratt's body camera that was posted on the Salina Police Department's Facebook page. The video has been viewed more than 1.6 million times since Friday. (Click here to see the video. With 30 minutes to kill, Pratt swung by his house and picked up his cat Froo Froo, to "assist" with a traffic stop. As opportunity would have it, a car he clocked traveling 91 mph in an 80 mph zone sped by, which enabled him to put “Officer Froo Froo” to work. A seasoned K-9 officer, Pratt calmly explained police protocol to the unsuspecting occupants of the SUV. He requested a driver license and then asked the driver and passengers to explain the source of an odor emanating from their car, which they were unable to do. "I'm with the feline unit, the Salina Police Department's Feline Unit and I do have my feline partner with me,” Pratt said on the video. "So what I'm going to do, I'm going to deploy my cat around the outside of your vehicle. If the cat indicates the odor of a controlled substance, we're going to from there, OK? Does that make sense to you?" Pratt further explained if his feline partner meowed three times in a row, "that's a positive indication, OK?" Pratt returned to his car to retrieve Officer Froo Froo, who is an "awesome" mouser and farm cat but not trained to detect drugs, Pratt said in an interview Saturday. But the foursome in the SUV, unaware they were on the receiving end of an April Fools' Day prank, fully cooperated, even volunteering that one of the passengers had prescription medication. Pratt explained that the feline was only certified to indicate to the odors of marijuana, cocaine, heroine and methamphetamine." Continuing with the ruse, Pratt walked around the vehicle holding Officer Froo Froo, at one point noting that the cat appeared to want to jump into the vehicle with a woman sitting in the back seat. After circling the SUV, Pratt finally fessed up. "You guys, I can't keep playing with you. This is an April Fools' joke," he said, eliciting a roar of laughter from the good-natured occupants of the vehicle. Pratt, who was in Emery County for his child’s sports competition Saturday, was unaware how many times the video had been viewed. "Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe that.” Pratt said his intentions were two-fold: fostering positive relationships with the public through humor and driving more traffic to the police department’s Facebook page so area residents become more accustomed to using it. Plus, he’s always wanted to pull such a gag. Salina, UT - SCPD using drug sniffing cats?Traffic Tag:Utah,Police ,Department,Feline Unit,Officer ,Froo Froo

• published: 04 Apr 2016
• views: 12