In the image, a uniformed policeman has a cellphone in one hand and his other hand on the steering wheel inside a marked Reading police cruiser. Reading resident Gerry A. Sullivan, who uploaded the picture to her Facebook page Tuesday night, said she took the photo from the passenger’s seat of another car at the intersection of Main and Pleasant streets.

Reading police are investigating a photo recently shared on social media that appears to show a police officer texting while driving, officials said Wednesday.

Reading police are investigating the photo to determine if the officer was actually texting and driving, Chief Mark Segalla said in a prepared statement Wednesday night.


“We are not looking to rush to judgment – at this early stage we do not know if the vehicle was being driven or was parked along the side of the road — but if the investigation shows that the officer was driving while using a mobile device, we will address that violation appropriately,” Segalla said in the statement.

Segalla also touched on the larger issue of distracted driving.

“We have relatively new laws banning texting and handheld phone use while driving,” Segalla said in the statement. “Police are engaged in an aggressive enforcement campaign to stop and prevent distracted driving, and certainly we must set the example.”

At 11 p.m. Wednesday, Sullivan’s post of the photo had been shared on Facebook 655 times.

“So bad that our police are breaking the law!” she wrote in the post, adding the hashtag “#readingpolicedepartment.”

Rachel Riley can be reached at rachel.riley@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @rachel_m_riley.