Philadelphia

Philadelphia Police to Combat Crime From the Sky

It was one of the most creative April Fools' jokes we saw all day. The Philadelphia Police Department announced #ProjectLiftOff via its social media accounts. 

The announcement unveiled a new policing initiative to issue jet packs to all officers, "for use on daily patrol."

NBC10 spoke with Sergeant Eric Gripp of the Philadelphia Police department's Public Affairs Unit, who came up with the idea for the April Fools' prank. Sergeant Gripp says he thought of the idea as he was leaving his house and tripped over his kid's Buzz Lightyear toy, "Ah, jet packs, cool," he said.
 
When he got to work, he wrote up the story and worked with fellow officers to make it come to life, "Officer Diaz of the 22nd District, I got his permission and he was like, 'Yeah, absolutely. Anything to take part in an April Fools' Day prank, I'm completely behind,'" Gripp explained.
 
 
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PHILADELPHIA – Following through on his pledge to make the Philadelphia Police Department the best Police Department in... Posted by Philadelphia Police Department on Wednesday, April 1, 2015

 
Gripp personally responds to the comments on the post as well, "My favorite thing to do on Facebook is to mix it up with the community... We're people just like anybody else and we like to laugh, joke and have a good time."
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One last word from Sergeant Gripp, "Hopefully someday we really get them."
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