Utah officer uses "drug-sniffing cat" in traffic stop prank

SALINA, Utah --Video of a Utah police officer's traffic stop has gone viral after he fooled a driver and a carful of passengers into believing his drug sniffing cat was prowling their car for contraband.

The video, posted on the Salina City Police Facebook page on Friday (April Fool's Day, of course), has since been shared nearly 55,000 times.

In the video, an officer tells the driver, who he pulled over for speeding, that he's with the Salina Police "feline unit." He said his feline partner, "Officer Froo Froo," would need to sniff the car for the odor of drugs.

"This is Officer Froo Froo - she's been with the department for eight years, she's been certified for six of those years - the first years were training," he said to the bewildered driver. "...If we hear three meows in a row then we know we're going to have an issue, okay?"

After bringing the cat to the car to investigate, he finally clues everyone in that it was an April Fool's prank.

In an accompanying Facebook post, the officer explained that the stop was legitimate -- he said the driver had been traveling 11 miles over the speed limit in an 80 mph zone -- but that he was a salaried employee and the prank was carried out on his own time. He said his decision to give the driver a warning was also legitimate.

"No tax payer dollars were spent in relation to this video," he wrote. "...My sweet cat Froo Froo was not injured during this incident."

In:
• April Fools' Day