The NYPDs Twitter campaign gets hijacked with pictures of alleged police brutality (Picture: Twitter)

There have been many social media stunts which have backfired – but this one should have had sirens blaring.

In a botched attempt to garner some good publicity, the New York Police Department asked the city’s residents to send a photo of them posing with a police officer.

But instead, thousands replied with pictures showing violence and brutality from the force’s officers.

The Twitter account of Occupy Wall Street fired the starting gun.


It uploaded a photo of an officer hitting a protester, with the caption: ‘NYPD… changing hearts and minds one baton at a time.’

Another tweet showed a man being dragged by a policeman, sarcastically adding: ‘Need a lift? The #NYPD’s got you! Free delivery.’

The force has come under much criticism for its heavy-handed tactics on call-outs.



Kim Royster, spokesman for the NYPD, defended the stunt and said: ‘Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue that is good for our city.’

Other pictures included a man at a rally being kicked in the groin, a woman having her hair pulled and a dog being frisked.

So far, the force has managed to retweet just three positive responses to its #myNYPD campaign.

And other forces aren’t too pleased with the NYPD, either. In California, Twitter users showed the brutality of their officers with the #myLAPD tag.

Despite thousands of negative tweets, a police commissioner for the NYPD has said he is determined to continue and expand the campaign.

Bill Bratton added: ‘The reality of policing is that often our actions are lawful but they look awful.

‘I kind of welcome the attention. We really broke the numbers yesterday.’