Watch This: Now Scrapped Iowa City Police Recruitment Video Makes Its Way to London Daily Mail Online

The Iowa City Police may never use its police recruitment video again due to citizen complaints about its aggressive nature, but it will spread good will of another sort to our friends in England.

The video has made its way to the video section of the London Daily Mail, where it is a but a fews click away, right past a story about a suicide and Jessica Alba jumping into the water while wearing a swimming suit. The video bears the headline:

Police force or action movie? Hilariously over the top recruitment video from Iowa City PD (Watch video at link)

You're welcome for the laughs, England. I will start thinking how you can repay us.

Here is a letter to the Press-Citizen from March 22 that critiqued it prior to it being pulled.

Time to replace ICPD recruitment video (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

This high-powered imagery, in particular the SWAT team portion, is reinforced by the song “Ladies and Gentlemen” by the rock band Saliva, which can be seen in the music video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMlKmELIhgY. This video portrays two women bloodily beating each other up in a boxing ring with one of them drinking a can of “cocaine” as they take a break before resuming their violent battery of each other. One woman gets hit so hard you can see blood spew before she drops to the mat.

At its March 2013 meeting, the Diversity Committee Report to the Iowa City Council recommended replacing the recruitment video, believing that “it is a reflection of the current culture in our police department, which is leading to much of the public’s concern about negative treatment.”

As Mark Carlson of KCRG reported, the video had actually been on the police department website for more than three years before it was pulled after citizen complaints.

Iowa City Police Pull Suddenly Controversial Recruitment Video

“The former Iowa City Police Department (ICPD) recruitment video, developed four years ago, has been a point of community debate due to the chosen music, imagery, and companion music video,” police chief Sam Hargadine wrote in a letter to city manager Tom Markus dated March 26. “The ICPD is responding to the concerns of our citizens by removing the video and developing a new recruitment video.”

The roughly two minute video devotes a large amount of time showing heavily armed police officers executing search warrants to music by the rock band Saliva. Such videos are not uncommon as recruiting tools for police departments, Iowa City police sergeant Vicki Lalla said.

Lalla told Carlson that the now pulled recruitment video would be replaced by a more sedate effort that focuses on community policing.