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NYPD hashtag becomes a bitter joke after Eric Garner ruling

This is not the best use of a hashtag, NYPD.

 

Kevin Collier

IRL

Posted on Dec 3, 2014   Updated on May 30, 2021, 1:55 am CDT

To be fair to NYPD Chief Joanne Jaffe, there probably isn’t any combination of 140 characters that will soothe the public after an officer who choked a man to death for selling cigarettes escaped a trial.

Still, things were bound to go poorly when Jaffe used today’s grand jury decision not to indict the officer—whose killing of Eric Garner was ruled a homicide—as the impetus to launch a new hashtag. As you consider the NYPD’s position and social media strategy, remember that there is clear-as-day video footage of the officer using an illegal chokehold on Garner, who complains “I can’t breathe” until he stops breathing and dies.

What happened next as inevitable: The hashtag became an anti-NYPD rallying cry.

Jaffe might be committed to rebuilding public trust, but she and her department have a long way to go.

Photo via Dave Hosford/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Jason Reed

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*First Published: Dec 3, 2014, 6:31 pm CST