Missouri Police Introduce 'Special Alpaca Unit' on April Fool's Day

In a humorous video posted to Facebook on April Fool’s Day, St Charles County Police Department announced a new unit of alpacas would join its existing K9, SWAT, and Bomb Squad special forces.

“After extensive planning and training, the Police Department is announcing the formation of a new unit for special cases,” the department joked in their post on April 1.

“Special thanks to Alpacas of Troy for supplying the recruits.” Credit: St Charles County Police Department via Storyful

Video transcript

- Here at St. Charles County, we're always looking for new and exciting ways to strengthen our department to better serve our community. We have canines, motorcycle unit, SWAT. But we are trying to develop a brand new unit, the first of its kind in the country, the alpaca unit, animals learning policing and community assistance.

We have a large rural area to cover in Saint Charles County. And these alpacas will help us do exactly that. They're easy to train. They're unexpected, as most people don't relate them to the police.

They can go to a lot of places you can't get to in a car. It's not quite a mounted patrol unit, as you cannot ride them. There's obviously some kinks to work out, but we're really excited about this unit. It's going to be a game changer.

[LIVELY UPBEAT MUSIC]

Here at St. Charles County, we're always looking for new and exciting ways to strengthen our department to better serve our community. We have canines, motorcycle unit, SWAT. But we are trying to develop a brand new unit, the first of its kind in the country, the alpaca unit, animals learning policing and community assistance.

We have a large rural area to cover in Saint Charles County. And these alpacas will help us do exactly that. They're easy to train. They're unexpected, as most people don't relate them to the police.

They can go to a lot of places you can't get to in a car. It's not quite a mounted patrol unit, as you cannot ride them. There's obviously some kinks to work out. But we're really excited about this unit. It's going to be a game changer.

[LIVELY UPBEAT MUSIC]