A clip of a police officer in Uppsala’s crime-troubled neighborhood fooling around at a playground was meant as a heartwarming exercise in relations building. But some Swedes think it sent the wrong signal to the bad guys.

The clip published on the police department’s Facebook page last Sunday shows a patroller named Martin performing a humorous equestrian jumping routine in Gottsunda, the area in his charge.

“If there is rain on Monday morning, maybe this video will cheer you up,” the description says, adding that building trust with local residents and workers is essential for successful policing.

There were, of course, quite a few positive comments, which said it was nice to see officers befriending children and having a good time.

“I fully respect the police and think it’s absolutely fantastic when they show they are human under the uniform,” a comment read. But some people had a less welcoming attitude.

“When bad guys see this they will surely drop their weapons and surrender,” one person wrote. She suggested having “big and scary” cops could be a good idea for Sweden.

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Another wondered what this monkey business was supposed to achieve for the police.

“The word of the day today is ‘embarrassment’,” the commenter said.

“Great to see the police are playing games while Sweden burns,” another person fumed.

Judging by the number of ‘like’ emojis, those criticisms got a lot of public support.

The complaints may have something to do with the fact that Gottsunda is one of 22 areas in Sweden and the only in Uppsala designated as “especially vulnerable” by the police.

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Also dubbed “no-go zones” by some media, they are the ones where high crime rates, mistrust in official institutions and extremism are especially high.

And it’s not that crime problems are limited to those 22 neighborhoods. Just last week 19 cars were damaged in the northern Stockholm suburb of Marsta after an explosive device went off in front of a barber shop early in the morning.

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