TAMPA (FOX 13) -First came the Harvard baseball team. Then there was the U.S. National Swim team and even the Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders.
Now you can add the Tampa Police Department to the list of organizations who wants you to “call them maybe.”
Parody videos of the wildly popular Carly Rae Jepsen song “Call Me, Maybe” were all the rage this past summer and now the Tampa Police Department is getting in on the act.
“The point of this video is to maybe reach out to the younger generation, younger audience and get them to be a part of this team,” said Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor.
The video shows the public the different ways they can “connect with the cops,” be it 911 for emergencies, Twitter, Facebook and even text messaging.
LINK: Click here to watch TPD’s video
But before the video could become a reality, Chief Castor had to be convinced.
“My first reaction was, as a 52-year-old chief of police, are you kidding me?” said Castor.
Eventually she came on board and even makes a cameo.
“There was a progressive wearing down of the chief,” Castor laughed.
She wasn’t the only officer who had to be convinced. Several officers and TPD employees were recruited, including Officer Stephen Hiles, who was dropping off paperwork when the media relations team signed him up.
“She sold me on the concept that it was going to be really funny and I was going to get to goof around and I like to goof around,” Hiles said.
Lisa Demmi heads up Cake Marketing Mechanics here in Tampa and says the video is already a hit in her book.
“If they’re trying to get the word out about making these phone calls to people this is a brilliant way to do it,” said Demmi.
Chief Castor says behind the main message there’s another they want to get across.
“Some people see police officers as kind of stoic and unapproachable and this shows they can be light hearted and have fun even if they can’t sing and dance,” Castor said.
