West Richland police jumped into the lip sync craze. The reviews haven’t been kind

A Tri-City police department’s lighthearted attempt to make a lip sync video went somewhat awry this week.

The West Richland police video was public for less than four hours before it was pulled down.

City officials cited “technical difficulties,” but a flood of critical online comments were possibly to blame.

The 19-officer department in the mostly residential town of about 14,000 was trying to join the nationwide social media craze.

Police and fire departments throughout the country have posted elaborate lip sync videos to show the softer, more friendly side of first responders.

Earlier this summer, West Richland police invited the community to participate in the recording of it’s endeavor.

Hundreds showed up in a city park on the Fourth of July to join the fun.

Then, after much anticipation, the city posted its video to the song “Sugar” by Robin Schulz just after noon Wednesday.

By 3:30 p.m., it was gone.

Its abruptly departure left followers confused about what happened.

The first explanation on Facebook by Police Chief Ben Majetich highlighted “concerns brought to our attention” and said they “had no choice” but to delete the post.

Some comments even got personal, according to the department, and were hidden from public view.

Some 500 others praised the effort and hoped the video would be posted again.

In response, police officials wrote a second, more lengthy Facebook explanation about why it was removed.

Officials tried to explain that the no-budget video involved only volunteers and no public money.

And responding to one complainer, they emphasized no crimes were committed or missed while officers recorded the scenes.

The city even had to explain that an officer dancing in a slow moving patrol car was actually not driving but being pulled on a trailer along a closed road.

“We are not ashamed of the video (though some believe we should be) and we are truly thankful for your support,” West Richland police wrote. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion.”

After the initial firestorm, Sgt. Terry Boehmler said the responses have been more positive.

“Since its been taken down there’s been a lot of comments of why we haven’t put it back up,” he said.

Boehmler said the original post sparked nasty online exchanges, which wasn’t the intent of the light-hearted video.

However, Boehmler said the video was not taken down because of the overwhelming responses, but rather “to address a couple of issues.”

Boehmler didn’t know when the new version would go live again.

But when it does, police told commenters they need to keep it clean and avoid “keyboard warrior” antics.