Call it a social-media fail. The NYPD’s plan to engage Twitter users backfired when users hijacked the hashtag #myNYPD. Should the police have anticipated the response? Social-media strategist and Syracuse University assistant professor Anthony Rotolo discusses on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.

COPS aren’t always the most imaginative people.

That’s a problem when you’re dealing with a new generation of social media-savvy Aussies. If you dish out boring old phrases like “dob in a druggie” to the new generation, they’ll stare back at you going “WTF”?

But a very clever cop in Parkes, NSW, has cracked the communication code.

In a post last week, crime prevention officer Daniel Greef from The Lachlan Local Area Command asked if anyone had received bad customer service from their drug dealer.

It was genius, pure genius, masking the classic dob-in appeal as an opportunity to make a consumer complaint.

The senior constable had no idea how much attention the post would receive. His amusing post generated 2500 likes (and counting) on the LAC Facebook page, hundreds of new fans and several more comments.

The post was also shared by Triple M’s grill team which generated thousands of additional likes.

Snr Con Greef told news.com.au he had posted other tongue-in-cheek comments in the past but didn’t realise people would find this one as shareable as they did.

“I did it just for a laugh really,” he said. “But obviously there is a serious message underlying it and if it gets people thinking about it then that’s great.”

The officer said funny posts weren’t always easy to come up with but it helped show police had a sense of humour.