Sometimes police officers have their gun at the ready in a dangerous situation - and sometimes they just need to improvise.

An image of a cop drawing a finger gun to force a man to the ground has been picked up by Cop Humour Australia, a Facebook page that shares light-hearted humour based on the day-to-day activities of police officers.

In a post made to the group's page, New Zealand police officers can be seen apprehending a man, clearly ordering him to the ground.

An image of a cop drawing a finger gun to force a man to the ground has emerged on social media

Out of the four police pictured, two can be seen with their weapons drawn. The vision of third officer by another cop but appears to be holding a police-dog from a K9 unit.

The policeman in the centre of the group is directly facing the offender and has his right hand on his belt, but amusingly appears to be pointing his left hand towards the assailant as if he was holding a gun made from his fingers.

The priceless moment quickly accumulated almost 550 likes in under an hour after it was viewed almost half a million times on image sharing platform Imgur.

Social media users were quick to see the funny side of the post, with one Facebook user citing: 'He was probably yelling ''Bang, bang!'' as well.'

One Facebook commenter thought the image resembled Rowan Atkinson using a finger gun in Mr Bean (pictured)

The priceless moment quickly accumulated almost 550 likes in under an hour after it was viewed almost half a million times on image sharing platform Imgur

Another thought the man must have forgotten to strap his weapon on that morning.

One commenter believed the formation was 100 per cent 'spot on' and the law enforcement strategy was perfect.

'There are two - possibly three - officers with weapons brought to bear on the target,' he said. 'The instructing officer has his right hand ready to draw his sidearm and is giving physical instructions with his left hand.

In the image New Zealand police officers can be seen apprehending a man with a K9 dog on the scene

Another commenter referred to the scene from Mr Bean where Rowan Atkinson famously quoted a scene from Dirty Harry

The user also said the two officers left and right of the main officer have 'longarms' on target as they have the superior weapon.

He said: 'The target can concentrate on the instructing officer and follow his directions knowing that if he doesn't he will die from both the left and the right.

'It allows the officer instructing to concentrate on having the target's full and undivided attention, and conveying to the target precisely what he wants him to do.'