NYPD’s Twitter photo request backfires

A request by the New York City Police Department has backfired — in a very public way.

Its request that Twitter users share pictures of them posing with police officers has caused people to start sending in photos of alleged police brutality.

The NYPD sent a tweet on Tuesday saying it might feature the photographs on its Facebook page.

The responses soon turned ugly when Occupy Wall Street tweeted a photograph of cops battling protesters with the caption “changing hearts and minds one baton at a time”. Other photos included an elderly man bloodied after being arrested for jaywalking.

Images and tweets of many arrests of demonstrators went viral, including such presumed lowlights as an officer pulling the hair of a handcuffed young black woman.

“The #NYPD will also help you de-tangle your hair,” tweeted @MoreAndAgain.

Some respondents did send in the type of police-friendly photographs officials were hoping to get.

NYPD spokeswoman Kim Royster says the uncensored and open dialogue was good for the city.

But the NYPD so far has yet to post any happy shots on its Facebook page from its request for public submissions.

In 2012, McDonald’s created the #McDstories hashtag, asking customersto share their favourite McDonald’s memories.

The company was forced to yank the campaign after just two hours following countless food-horror stories about fingernails, insects and bouts of food poisoning.