US police request for drunk volunteers gets ‘overwhelming response’

A call for three volunteers “to drink hard liquor to the point of inebriation”, made by a police department in Pennsylvania, has perhaps unsurprisingly received “an overwhelming response”.

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The Kutztown Police Department posted its request for volunteers on Facebook on Wednesday (16 January), but has since withdrawn its appeal after receiving an “overwhelming response”.

The police force, based in Berks County, Pennsylvania, was searching for individuals to help it train officers in administering its standardised field sobriety tests.

Volunteers were required to be in good health, be aged between 25 and 40, have a clean criminal history and be willing to drink hard liquor to the point of inebriation. As part of the process, participants must sign a waiver releasing the Borough of Kutztown of any liability and are required to have a “sober/responsible party” to take them home at the end of the day.

By Thursday night, the police force had to update the page with the message: “Thank you all for your interest in helping us out! We have had an overwhelming response for this and at this point we have enough volunteers for this training! Those who are selected will be contacted by chief Summers”.

Kutztown Police added that alcohol would be provided but that volunteers would not be compensated for their time.