Officially the police of the city of Irvine, California introduced its terrifying recent Tesla Cybertruck publicly on Tuesday in the most horrific way possible: a bizarre music video featuring the theme music from “Terminator,” a franchise that is notorious for portraying cops in a bad delicate.
First spotted by GizmodoIrvine police posted the videos on Twitter and Facebook presents a truck. The minute-long video is as sphincter-tightening as you’d expect. It shows the Cybertruck driving to the beat of the Terminator music. For some reason, the Cybertruck drives through the smoke before coming to a stop, and is joined by Irvine police officers who awkwardly pose with the truck, sporting cyborg smiles. The video ends with a custom thunder and lightning graphic created for the truck that reads “Irvine Police Cybertruck.” I think we should all shout “hell yes!” at this moment.
Irvine police stand by the department’s argument that well over six figures were spent on this electric pickup truck. In the video’s description, the department says the truck is intended to be used for community engagement, specifically to support officers through the DARE (Drug Abuse Prevention Education) program.
The truck will support our Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program and community outreach. While the fully equipped vehicle will not be used as a patrol car, it can respond to emergencies and assist the community when needed. For over thirty years, our DARE officers have been driving eye-catching and one-of-a-kind vehicles that always attract attention and excite students.
Even though the department said it would aim to engage the community, the truck was divisive. Back in September public records showed the department spent more than $150,000 on the electric truck. Things didn’t get much better when it turned out the department was trying to keep the file exact secret of the purchase amount. And not everyone buys the department’s reasoning that the truck is for community engagement. Some experts believe that the money spent on the Cybertruck and its law enforcement modifications should be spent on community benefits.
The fact that the truck is part of the DARE program doesn’t lend a hand either. As Gizmodo noted, research has shown the program does not work. It also doesn’t appear that Irvine police actually obtained the appropriate license to utilize music from “The Terminator” in the music video; the department mentioned in a statement to Gizmodo that “the video was used on our social media and credit for the music was given to the artist.” Between the public backlash, this pathetic video, and possible copyright infringement, it looks like Cybertruck is already proving to be less of a benefit for the department and more of a headache.
This story originally appeared on Jalopnik, our sister site, on Wednesday, October 9.
