Local Jail Goes Viral Over Elf On The Shelf Named 'Snitch'

A local sheriff's office in Michigan has gone viral after a TikToker posted a video about their Elf on the Shelf named Snitch that began hanging out around the jail.

The video, posted by @shxlbywood, received more than 4.1 million views and 4,508 comments since it was posted on Friday.

"Somebody gave my county's jail an Elf on the Shelf," Shelby said in the video. "Here's how it's going."

Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition that began in 2005 after author Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell published the children's book. The book came with a personal elf for parents to enchant their children with.

According to the book, the Elf on the Shelf watches over children from December 1 until Christmas Eve and reports back to Santa about their behavior. For many parents, the tradition has turned into putting the elf in mischievous scenarios for the children to wake up to in the morning.

In the viral TikTok, Shelby showed a Facebook post from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office about Snitch the elf.

"Day 15!" the post read. "Snitch was in the jail helping to serve lunch. He is definitely eyeing those cookies. Snitch is not only a fan favorite outside of the jail, but inside the jail too."

The picture showed Snitch seated on a couple of milk cartons next to one of the people working in the kitchen. In the TikTok, Shelby then showed another post from the Sheriff's Office's Facebook.

"And don't you worry it gets better!" she said. The post showed an individual breathalyzing Snitch.

"Day 14! Snitch is always smiling so we had to make sure he hasn't been hitting the eggnog," the caption of the Facebook post read. "He blew all zeros; the only thing in his system is sugar and Christmas spirit."

Shelby also uploaded two more videos showing additional posts from the Facebook page, including Snitch patrolling the streets with an officer and getting interrogated for being "naughty."

Over the past few weeks, Snitch has become friends with many of the inmates and even helped some of them write notes to Santa. In one of the photos, Snitch sat next to a smiling inmate in his room as they hand-wrote letters together.

On day 20, Snitch was naughty and decided to start some trouble in the jail's laundry room. In the photo, Snitch sat on top of a pile of unfolded laundry as two inmates looked shocked.

"Snitch has found the laundry room and unfolded the already folded clothes!" the Facebook post read. "These guys only turned their heads for a second and bam... shenanigans! He must have had too much sugar in commissary. Hopefully he helps to refold them. Santa is watching."

In other Facebook posts, Snitch was shown answering phones at dispatch and searching through letters in the mailroom. He was also able to help officers dust for fingerprints and received a COVID test to enter the jail.

Newsweek reached out to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

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