Speed Reads
On Tuesday, a New York Police Department-affiliated Twitter account posted the following benign message:
It was an attempt at community outreach. A valiant attempt, but a doomed one. Though the NYPD did get a smattering of legitimate responses, its critics quickly hijacked the hashtag with a torrent of images of alleged police brutality and incompetence. A sampling:
You can find plenty more pictures (some NSFW) here.
Really, shouldn't the NYPD have seen this one coming? The department essentially said, "Here, we have made a hashtag for you all to document in one place your virulent displeasure with our controversial practices. Enjoy!"