TikTok trend of RCMP ‘chases’ has real risks
By Lethbridge Herald on August 29, 2025.
Christopher J. Schneider
For the Herald
A trend on TikTok has Canadians “challenging” RCMP officers to fake foot pursuits.
In one 18-second video, we see a woman knock on a police cruiser window and begin to run. A fully uniformed RCMP officer exits the vehicle and gives chase across an empty parking lot. In another similar enactment, we see an 80-year-old elder being chased by an RCMP officer. In yet another video, we see an officer losing their footing on a gravel road and slipping to the ground. The officer quickly regains their composure and gives chase.
The officers in each of the videos eventually catch the person, tapping their shoulder to signal that “the Mountie always gets their man.” Or woman.
The intended purpose of this TikTok trend is to foster police connections with communities and to humanize police officers. While seemingly nothing but good fun, the trend poses significant risks to citizens and officers alike.
The accidental discharge of police firearms, for example, while infrequent, is a known risk that is not without precedent.
In 2017, a Winnipeg police officer was shot in the leg by his own holstered gun, severing three arteries as he sat down with his lunch.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a police officer’s holstered gun discharged, firing a bullet into another officer’s leg in September 2022. According to police records, it was the third time in as many years that a Milwaukee police officer’s gun had allegedly fired without the trigger being pulled.
Yet another example, in April 2024 a Regina police officer was hurt when another officer’s firearm accidently discharged during the execution of a search warrant.
There is always a possibility, unlikely as it may seem, that an officer’s gun unintentionally discharges during a fake TikTok police chase, posing a risk to public safety and to the subject of fake pursuit. This risk alone should have us reconsider the TikTok foot pursuit challenge.
It is more likely that an officer or civilian slips and falls and gets hurt. Pulled muscles and sprained ankles are common injuries.
All of this raises an important question for consideration: Should injuries, whether an accidental shooting or pulled hamstring, that are sustained by an officer while horsing around on duty engaging in fake police chases be included in public safety officer compensation polices?
According to Public Safety Canada, there is a maximum compensation benefit for officers across the territories and provinces, except for Manitoba, where compensation benefits for injured officers are subject to no maximum cap.
And what if an emergency call for service comes in while that officer is on a fake foot pursuit? It would take time for the officer to return to their vehicle before making their way to the scene.
In circumstances of life and death, mere seconds count.
Police already engage the public on social media in many ways to foster community, including through humour and sports. The Toronto Police Service led the charge with the launch of their “social media strategy” in July 2011, among the first of its kind in North America. In 2021, Toronto police joined TikTok. While less research has examined police use of TikTok, in general the platform is used by law enforcement to connect with youth.
The use of police themed hashtags is common on social media. The popular #AskaTrafficCop hashtag and related TikTok livestream is one example. Cst. Sean Shapiro hosted the livestream for the Toronto Police Traffic Unit until his 2024 retirement.
Cst. Shapiro routinely answered user questions about traffic, often with humour. For instance, when asked if infants counted for high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) designation allowing travel in carpool lanes (which usually requires two occupants), he replied “well you might not consider your children human beings, but for the purposes of an HOV lane they qualify as passengers.”
Another popular police themed hashtag includes #humanizethebadge which has more than 94,000 posts on TikTok alone.
While not without fault, other forms of police social media use do not carry the same physical risks to public safety.
Is a fake foot pursuit TikTok challenge worth the potential risks posed to public safety?
While the RCMP declined to offer comment when reached by CTV news about the TikTok challenge I think we all know the answer.
Christopher J. Schneider is professor of sociology at Brandon University. He has published eight books and more than 100 scholarly papers and essays. His most recent book is Policing and Social Media: Social Control in an Era of Digital Media.
24-23
tik tok another example of socially conditioned followers that struggle to do much of anything without checking in with the influencers. another example of how we were far better off without internet.