Whatcha Gonna Do When They Run from You?

Fat boys, fat boys ...

Everybody, sing! You know, the theme song from "Cops" ...

Or not.

The story here is South African officials making a priority out of their police losing weight and getting in shape in time for the World Cup.

It appears donuts may be an issue in South Africa as well as, say, the south Bronx.

Apparently, this stems from a recent drill in Cape Town during which some three-quarters of the cops involved seemed to be huffing and puffing ... and a member of parliament noticed.

"In Cape Town they were practicing as we were viewing the stadium. Three-quarters of them were overweight," Elizabeth Thabethe told the Johannesburg Times.

"How are you doing with that programme, because surely they must be able to run if there is an emergency and not be blocked by their weight."

She said she could give an assurance the South African cops will be "slim and trim" in time for the World Cup, which is barely three weeks off. Must be a crash diet.

Then again, for directing people and performing basic gendarmerie/British Bobby type tasks, a police officer doesn't need to be a lean, mean crime-fighting machine.

But if something more dire comes up, terror or even a serious riot, well, yes, it would be nice to have some cops who could run down a malefactor or two.