Crime & Safety

'Trigger Happy' Video Parodies Baltimore City Police Department's 'Happy'

The viral 'Happy' video got a new spin from a Baltimore media outlet.

The Baltimore City Police Department released a YouTube video recently to celebrate its 50,000th follower on Twitter, set to the tune of Pharrell Williams' "Happy."

The following week, City Paper made its own version of the police video, entitled "Trigger Happy."

On Monday morning, the video was on the front page of Upworthy, with the headline "When a Police Department Cheered a Twitter Milestone, They Clearly Weren't Expecting This Response."

According to Upworthy, the City Paper video was "a courteous reminder" to police since "they have a pretty serious image problem, and the video wasn't enough to make people forget."

At the time of the Baltimore City Police Department's June 30 release of "Happy," the department was under scrutiny after an officer slit a dog's throat and another shot a steer in the course of a week. Also in June, two families filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against city police alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations, among other charges, in connection with police brutality, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Telling what it called "another side of the BPD story," City Paper said that its video was the one police should have made.

"We hope the Baltimore Police Department is improving its internal discipline, psychological counseling, and use-of-force policies with as much vigor and spirit as it has applied to its media strategy," according to the paper.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.