New York police were biting their fingers Tuesday night after asking New Yorkers to post photographs of themselves interacting with police on Twitter. The response was massive to denounce police brutality in pictures.
“Do you have a photograph with a member of the police? Tweet it with the hashtag #myNYPD” (New York Police Department), the official NYPD News account had launched on Twitter in the early afternoon. “It may be put on our Facebook page.”
The result was not long in coming, with an endless stream of comments and pictures widely “retweeted”, showing multiple images of arrests of protesters, a police officer pulling the hair of a young black woman in handcuffs, others framing an 84-year-old man with a bloodied face, arrested for crossing outside the nails.
The comments also denounced the police practices of “stop and frisk”, impromptu searches mainly targeting young blacks and “Latinos”.
Mockery
“Do you need us to take you somewhere? The police are here, free delivery, only at #myNYPD,” read under a photograph of three policemen carrying a protester by their feet and hands.
“Here, the NYPD engages with members of its community, changing hearts and minds, baton after baton blow,” said another message showing a police officer ready to hit protesters with a baton. Another photograph showed the police massed in front of a bank. “#myNYPD protects banks, not people,” its author wrote.
The flop of the initiative also caused a lot of laughter on Twitter. “#myNYPD is an absolute communications disaster,” commented one internet user. “I wonder what they expected from #myNYPD? They still can’t think that they’re seen as nice guys,” a LittleMiss Scare-All also “tweeted”.
In any case, the police did not keep their promise. No image of interaction with New Yorkers had been posted Tuesday night on his Facebook page.
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