The police department in Fort Worth, Texas, released a parody viral recruitment video — car-salesman-style.
The Fort Worth Police Department, established almost 150 years ago, is home to over 1,700 police officers.
As the 13th largest city in the United States, Fort Worth is a staple for all things Texas: boots, cowboy hats, football and more.
In an effort to bring in new officers, the Fort Worth PD released a parody recruitment video — and it worked.
Fort Worth Police Officer Buddy Calzada joined “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning to talk about the viral video and the impact it’s had on their recruitment success.
“Our number-one job was to get the attention of people and have recruits sign up, and it is working. We have been overloaded, and it is a great thing,” he said.
Calzada said another officer wrote the script, and he was happy to play the part of Big B — as in Big Buddy Calzada.
The video shows Calzada acting like a car salesman while promoting the police department with their cars, training and even their trade-in opportunity.
Calzada said they will take trained officers from different departments or even states — and train them through a lateral program.
Here, officers who have experience in the field will be trained to be a Fort Worth police officer without starting from scratch.
“Don’t be mad if we pull them in from where you’re at, all the way here to Fort Worth,” he said.
As of last week, the police department already had over 300 new applications — and the number just keeps growing.
For more information on how to apply, visit recruiting@fortworthtexas.gov or follow the police department on social media.
The commercial shows the personality of the department, with the hope of bringing in as many recruits as possible while having a bit of fun.
“It was just fun. We have a great team here,” he said.
