What's Happening in Concord, CA…

Lip-sync videos have been seen before, but the Concord Police Department took things one step further, making a bilingual English-Spanish video recently that had the whole city dancing.

The police made the video in response to a challenge from the community. Once he was aware of the request, police captain Bill Roche began planning. He said he wanted a different type of video, one that shows what the Concord police do on a daily basis - be among the city's residents.

Once the police committed to the video, they collaborated with the Monument Crisis Center, a resource center for lower-income residents, which suggested they use a Spanish-language song. Sandra Scherer, the executive director of the center, said they were amazed and pleased when the police asked for their help. Since Concord boasts a population that is 25% Latino, the choice of Enrique Iglesias's ‘Bailando’ was a natural. Approximately 60 of the center's clients are in the video. Projects like this can benefit if creators use graphic design to create covers for the video, and distribute them.

The video was shot by a professional San Francisco film company and cost $34,000. The three leading “stars” in the video are Sergeant Robert Garcia, Sergeant Kyle Colvin, and Sergeant Carl Cruz, all of whom are bilingual. The police hope the video will show Concord residents cops are people too, and encourage positive interactions between the police and the community.