One thing you can say about 2014: it’s been a bad year to wear a badge. People around the world are fed up with abusive, militarized police—as a new memo to St. Louis police about a class designed to help officers “win the media” after shooting someone makes perfectly clear.

Public ire spilled over once again yesterday, with the 17th annual “Thank a Police Officer Day” going about as well as the #MyNYPD hashtag campaign did back in April. The observance, conceived and promoted under the banner of lawyer Andrew M. Hale’s Whole Truth Project, is meant to further that group’s aim of combating negative assumptions about cops.

Instead, social media users took the opportunity to reinforce those unflattering stereotypes.

It’s #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay, if you’re in LA come to the #LAPD protest at 3pm today 65th and Broadway pic.twitter.com/OeSkwwk47e — Cassandra (@CassandraRules) September 20, 2014

#ThankAPoliceOfficerDay Thank you for providing an ongoing example of militarized fascism in the United States — Colin Dickey (@colindickey) September 20, 2014

#ThankAPoliceOfficerDay Oscar Grant, murdered by BART police in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/JmCp0kVAQe — Nicholas (@DaHomieNick) September 20, 2014

#ThankAPoliceOfficerDay thank you for confirming my worst suspicions about you on a weekly basis. — Elon Green (@elongreen) September 20, 2014

All violence against any woman is wrong regardless of your profession pic.twitter.com/cZKvThsQ4Z #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay Via @drama_deedee — Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) September 20, 2014

For killing a guy selling loose cigarettes while ignoring the guy plundering pension funds #thankapoliceofficerday — Tainted Bill (@taintedbill) September 21, 2014

For the even handed Justice meted out by an intelligent, evolved & enlightened constabulary. #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay pic.twitter.com/hBwxiN3ETb — Justice Putnam (@justiceputnam) September 21, 2014

It hasn’t gone unnoticed that you harass & interrogate my black friends when they visit my “white” neighborhood. #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay — Michael Salamone (@MichaelSalamone) September 20, 2014

Is this what we should be thankful for? #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay pic.twitter.com/3cJcp4GMcz — Jonathan Barrett (@kungnepilsung) September 20, 2014

the SWAT that showed up to my apt with guns drawn to arrest a man who didn’t live there and pulled us from our home #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay — Joseph Charmer (@JosephCharmer) September 21, 2014

Let’s all be white police officers so we can murder civilians & get paid vacations #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/hZXK2Oie3b — Teh Pwner (@IllestBrownKid) September 20, 2014

Although an American invention, “Thank a Police Officer Day” quickly took on global proportions:

The homies back in Mexico taking part in #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay. Soon that shit will go worldwide. The planet, Earth pic.twitter.com/FsnBgbCctI — ⒶTony☭ (@MexicAnarchist) September 20, 2014

For more than 1496 deaths in British police custody since 1990>> http://t.co/SNmHjlhBv0 #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay — J L Schumann (JLS) (@debatingculture) September 20, 2014

From Spain we also join the #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay pic.twitter.com/BICbQBZpaE — CNT Madrid STSI (@cntmadridinform) September 20, 2014

Brazilian Policeman Executes Street Vendor in Broad Daylight | http://t.co/TEd9msYgoE #ThankAPoliceOfficerDay pic.twitter.com/4bmOv2xDT9 — ACSA Collective (@acsacollective) September 20, 2014

Funny how this sort of thing never happens on Administrative Professionals’ Day.

Photo by Paul Sullivan/Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)