Decatur Police Recruiting Video Goes Viral

Decatur received lots of online attention lately when bloggers compared the officer recruiting videos of the Decatur and Newport Beach, Calif., police departments.

Decatur comes off as a warm and cuddly place. Newport Beach looks like a war zone.

It started when The Agitator posted the comparison. It went viral after sites like Boing Boing linked to it.

Some readers were surprised that Decatur was portrayed as Mayberry and Newport Beach as Afghanistan. As a commenter named Jeff said on The Agitator,

Am I the only one who guess wrong about which video would be the militarized one and which one would be the touchy-feely one?

Decatur, I apologize. And I used to live just outside Decatur.

Much of the coverage bashed Newport Beach more than it praised Decatur.

WWW.cnbc.com's headline said, "Good cop, bad cop: Police recruiting videos go viral." An OC Weekly (that's for Orange County) blog ran a story under the headlne, "Newport Beach Police Recruitment Video Goes Viral ... in Mocking Fashion."

Decatur Police Chief Mike Booker says on the video:

"We're a very empathetic police department. We try our very hardest to put ourselves in other people's shoes, and it tends to make you look at things from all sides if you do that." Gee, I thought you were supposed to prevent and solve crimes. "Everyone acknowledges you," says one Decatur officer who believes officers are now more likeable.

Do you think the Decatur police video is accurate?