Challenge Accepted: St. Pete Police Dance in the Streets

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The men and women at the St. Petersburg Police Department aren’t the type to back down from a challenge. To prove that point, they’re even willing to dance in the streets.

The evidence of their determination is on video, captured recently as men and women in uniform lined up to accept Hot 101.5’s request that officers take on the Running Man Challenge. After the gauntlet was thrown, Mayor Rick Kriseman called upon the city’s finest to pick it up.

Answering Kriseman’s call to arms — or dancing shoes — officers took to the streets recently to bust a few moves to the tune of “My Boo,” by Ghost Town DJ’s. They didn’t stand alone either. Kriseman himself couldn’t quite resist the urge to dance and a group of children even joined in.

There were a few cameos, too.

McGruff the Crime Dog, as it turns out, is a dancing fool. So is Raymond, the Tampa Bay Rays' fuzzy mascot.

For those who don’t know, the Running Man Challenge is a social media craze along the lines of the Nae Nae or the Harlem Shake. Set to the tune of the 1996 hit “My Boo,” the challenge requires dancers to record themselves performing their best moves to the song.

Now that St. Petersburg Police have crushed the challenge, they’ve passed the torch to their fellow law enforcement officers across the Bay.

“Chief (Eric) Ward and the Tampa Polcie Department, we’re calling you out,” St. Pete Chief Anthony Holloway said at the end of the video. “So if you can, bring it.”

While it remains unclear if Ward will accept the challenge, St. Petersburg isn’t alone when it comes to having officers who have just got to dance. A Sanford Police Department officer recently challenged a group of kids to a Nae Nae dance-off that was deemed a draw with both sides scoring bonus points for cuteness.

Photo and video courtesy of the St. Petersburg Police Department