The NYPD’s comically disastrous attempt to create good will on Twitter turned into a coast-to-coast epic fail Wednesday.
Cop haters from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles all took to the popular social media site to bash their local police departments after reading about the online backlash New York’s Finest faced after the department naively invited people to post pictures of interactions with friendly cops on the Web.
“Lets help launch #myLAPD Thanks for the idea #nypd #myNYPD #LAPD,” wrote Gregory O’Bannon. “LAPD shot dead small 54-year-old homeless person Margaret Mitchell on 4th and La Brea. She was “armed” with a screwdriver,” tweeted Miracle Mile, using the hashtags #lapd and #mylapd.
“Just because #myLADP carries pepper-spray, doesn’t mean they USE pepper-spray…baton beatings are free, spray isn’t” tweeted Rudy Bucher in another shot at LA cops.
Oakland residents also weighed in using the hashtag #myOPD. “#myOPD planted evidence, routinely stopped and sexually assaulted women, and fired the whistleblower,” fumed a poster named elle.
And Chicagoans also piled on Windy City cops using the #CPD hashtag. “#MyCPD beat, stun, kill man who was successfully handcuffed in 12 secs. Resisting arrest,” wrote “Up the Rebels” about a 2012 case.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton tried to put a smiley emoticon on the mess Wednesday.
“The big brouhaha, to use that Boston term, most of those photos that I looked [at], they’re old news, they’ve been out there for a long time.The reality of policing is that often times our activities are lawful but they look awful,” Bratton said at a City Hall news conference on domestic violence. “And that’s the reality. As I look at a lot of those photos, those officers engaged lawfully in their activities.”
The top cop also defended the decision to invite people to submit the photos – and said the effort would continue despite the cop bashing.
“What we’re trying to do is be more open and more transparent, and we’re going to engage in everything that will allows us to do that, including expanding use of Twitter and tweets. We’re continuing that campaign. Blogs, tweets, FB, you name it, we’re attempting it. And we will continue to expand our activities in those areas.”
Earlier, after he was photographed with other officials outside City Hall, he quipped: “Make sure you get it out on the tweet.”
The barrage of criticism came after news broke Tuesday on the failed pro-cop campaign, which blew up in the NYPD’s face shortly after the department started the Twitter hashtag #myNYPD. “Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD,” they wrote.
Twitter users – many of them Occupy Wall Street protesters with an axe to grind – immediately responded Tuesday, and kept up the barbs on Wednesday. Here’s #myNYPD arresting war veterans at a war memorial,” wrote Jenna Pope of Brooklyn, who identified herself as an activist and photographer.