SCOTS COPS have entered a high stakes international dance competition – by doing the ‘running man’ in front of Edinburgh castle.
A Police Scotland team strutted their stuff in front of the famous landmark in response to a challenge from bobbies in New Zealand.
Earlier this week, NZ officers shared a 30-second clip of them doing the notorious ‘running man’ dance on Facebook and called on forces across the world to join in as part of a recruitment drive.
The #RunningManChallenge has already been taken up by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), who shared a clip dancing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.
And now Scotland’s very own police force have released their own rendition – which includes bagpipes and traditional Highland dancing.
The video, which was shared on their Facebook page last night, has clocked over 240,000 views in nine hours and over a thousand comments from amused Scots.
The minute-long clip begins with a lone piper playing ‘Scotland The Brave’ in front of Edinburgh castle when a police officer runs up to him, shaking his arms and asking him to stop.
The piper continues, and the cop waves over a police car which pulls up behind the pair.
Four other officers – all of them female – join the scene, and after a few seconds pause break into the ‘running man’ routine which sees them pretending to run on the spot.
At this point the song ‘My Boo’ by the Ghost Town DJ’s is played over the video, with lyrics including “at night I think of you” and “I want to be your lady”.
The officers suddenly stop their ‘running man’ routine and break into traditional Highland dance, twirling each other around with their arms linked.
The male bobby also shows off some impressive robot moves as he waits to be spun around.
The hilarious clip ends with the officers once again breaking into the ‘running man’ dance and coming towards the camera with big smiles on their faces.
The final shot is of the original policeman, who pops his head back in front of the camera and gives a cheeky wink into the lens.
They shared the video with the caption: “We accepted the #RunningManChallenge from @NYPDnews & pass it to @metpoliceuk @TorontoPolice & our own @PolScotCollege.
“Thanks to piper Andrew Vernon.”
The video quickly attracted hundreds of comments from Scots across the country, who have commended the police’s efforts.
Nicole Dunlop wrote: “Fantastic. You really showed those other forces how it should be done.”
Lesley Rhoddan said: “Great for everyone to see the police do have a sense of humour and are just normal like the rest of us.”
Chris Kidd added: “Well done, that gave me a chuckle and certainly beats the NYPD version.”
Brian Hamilton joked: “I did the running man with the police and I got done for resisting arrest.”
The Royal Falklands Island Police also commented, saying: “Very good Police Scotland…in the process of organising the Royal Falklands Island Police version…true kelper style of course.”
Other forces in Los Angeles and Australia have said they plan to rise to the challenge, although officers in Scilly declined the invitation saying the force there “had a team of five and a combined age of over 300.”
