The New York City Police Department asked folks to tweet some photos of regular people interacting with officers with the hashtag #myNYPD on Tuesday as part of a new means of communicating with the public. The Twitter public heeded the request, but not in the way the police department intended.
Instead, many users posted a cascade of images of perceived NYPD brutality. The outrage has since spilled over to the Albuquerque Police Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and others across the United States (Warning: some of the photos are graphic).
The tweet that backfired was innocent enough.
Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook. pic.twitter.com/mE2c3oSmm6
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 22, 2014
And though plenty of people did send photos of themselves smiling alongside an officer or two, the hashtag that was meant to generate goodwill had clearly become a beacon for just the opposite, only a few hours after it began.
From there, it didn't take long for the not-so-goodwill to seep into Chicago (#myCPD), Albuquerque, N.M. (#myAPD), and Los Angeles (#myLAPD).
#MyCPD beat, stun, kill man who was successfully handcuffed in 12 secs. "Resisting arrest." http://t.co/QjfzEABMIj pic.twitter.com/T2aF7P1rJo
— Up the Rebels (@occbaystreet) April 23, 2014
#APD killed Mary Hawkes. Then painted over wall where mourners chalked memories. Missed a spot #MyAPD #apdprotest pic.twitter.com/xeOPd8wlW2
— David Correia (@DavidCorreiaUNM) April 23, 2014
#myLAPD not justified in shooting unarmed Autistic man although Cheif said different http://t.co/8kiKZoeoQi
— Mary Sheldon (@MCSPoway) April 23, 2014
The first of the three photos above shows Darrin Hanna, a man who died a week after Chicago police officers allegedly beat him and repeatedly stunned with him with a taser for around 20 minutes. The case is under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Albuquerque's police force has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late. Officers have killed three people over the past five weeks, including a woman on April 21, just two weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice concluded an investigation of Albuquerque's police that said officers often practiced excessive -- even deadly -- force.
The #myLAPD tweet references an incident in 2011 where the civilian commission that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department overturned the recommendation of the police chief to absolve two officers of any wrongdoing in the killing of an unarmed autistic man back in 2010.
Also in California, the Oakland Police Department -- which has a history of excessive force complaints -- was a target of the vitriol. Other cities, like Denver and Boston, have seen their own hashtags sprout up to some extent, and #myNYPD is still generating hundreds of tweets.
The NYPD had tweeted that they would post a select a few #myNYPD photos on its Facebook, but no photos have appeared so far. The department did not respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE, April 23., 3:55 p.m.: Despite the negative outcry, New York Police Department commissioner Bill Bratton seems unperturbed.
“I kind of welcome the attention,” he told the New York Daily News, later adding that "often times police activities are lawful, but look awful."
Bratton said he strongly supports social media and that people should keep sending both happy and brutal images, even while acknowledging that many of the New York incidents photographed took place under his predecessor, Ray Kelly.
Though the hashtag has generated something of a public relations dustup, the Daily News reports that no one at the department will be fired.