Twitter PR campaign backfires on NYPD

Some one must have thought it was a good idea – New York’s Police Department inviting the public to use Twitter to send in photos of themselves seen with NYPD cops as part of a public relations “feel good” campaign. The best would be shown on the department’s Facebook page. But within hours, a torrent of images appeared using the suggested #mynypd – not with the happy faces of a satisfied public, but thousands showing police brutality, violence and controversial tactics. The whole thing rapidly went viral involving officers from police departments in other major US cities. The reaction by New York’s finest has been to roll with the punches. After what popular jargon calls an “epic fail” the department said the campaign had created a new way to communicate effectively with the community. “Twitter,” it said, “provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this open dialogue must be good for the city.”