New York Police Twitter initiative backfires
New York police say they are eager to engage more effectively with members of the public
A New York police public relations exercise in which members of the public were asked to share photos of themselves positively interacting with police officers has backfired.
It was part of a police push to engage with New Yorkers on social media.
However, the response was a deluge of negative images including pictures of alleged police brutality and of demonstrators being arrested.
A police spokesman said the department did not regret the initiative.
"Do you have a photo w/a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook," the department posted on its NYPD News Twitter feed.
Correspondents say that the intention was to promote a low-cost public relations campaign, but the results were discouraging. Among the photos they received were:
- Officers holding down a photographer on a pavement
- A white shirted supervisor twisting a protester's arm
- An officer knocking a cycle protester to the ground
- An officer pulling the hair of a handcuffed young black woman
- A dog being shot by an officer
- Police officers on trial
- A police officer allegedly sleeping in uniform
One image showing police hitting a protester was accompanied by the comment: "Here the #NYPD engages with its community members, changing hearts and minds one baton at a time."
Police said people were free to post the images they wanted
Despite, the onslaught of criticism, an NYPD spokeswoman said the initiative had been good for the city.
"We are doing it to get our messages out to the communities," Stephen Davis told the New York Post.
"We will not be deterred from our social media objective."
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