NYPD's social reach Twitter campaign #myNYPD hijacked by protesters to post police repression images

A social reach campaign by the New York Police Department (NYPD) went pretty awry for their own comfort.  On Wednesday the New York Police Department launched a campaign to enhance the NYPD image among users.  The plan was to use Twitter to boost its image.  Users were asked to tweet a photo of themselves with officers and add the hashtag #myNYPD as part of a social media campaign.  The start of the campaign was good with Twitter users posting images of themselves with the NYPD members

Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook. pic.twitter.com/mE2c3oSmm6
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 22, 2014

This was the original tweet was posted on the NYPD's Twitter feed @NYPDnews on Wednesday.  The tweet featured a selfie of two smiling officers and a member of the public.  The NYPD then encouraged Twitter users to send in similar photos with the hashtag #myNYPD.

All was working as per the plan but somehow instead of a steady stream of friendly photos, the hashtag was quickly adopted by users posting images of police aggression.

thanks #mynypd for beating up octogenarian jaywalkers. I feel safer. pic.twitter.com/ihmcmSFRwn
— Layla Sola (@ljsola) April 23, 2014

You know you live in a police state when every 3 seconds a new #NYPD police brutality photo is being tweeted. #myNYPD pic.twitter.com/P9B361h7wc
— Occupy Congress (@OCongress) April 22, 2014

Be safe out there. #myNYPD http://t.co/OV1iKZ0GSM pic.twitter.com/Ziw1ScK11b
— Hammond Morris (@OnionAdCzar) April 22, 2014

By Wednesday, the hashtag had become one of Twitter's top trending hashtags. One photo showed a man being pushed down on to a car bonnet. It was from March 2013 and followed protests in Brooklyn over the death of 16-year-old Kimani Gray who was shot by police.  

WCGW NYPD asks for photos with cops for their news feed @KimaniFilm @NYPDnews: Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD pic.twitter.com/oyHXO39b35 #Fail
— benAmerica (@ben__America) April 22, 2014

Soon enough the Anonymous protest group Occupy Wall Street also took part in NYPD bashing and  tweeted an image of an NYPD police officer advancing towards a crowd with a baton raised during the recent peaceful Occupy Wall Street protest against the capitalism.

Backlash against #myNYPD social media campaign spills over into user-generated #myLAPD hashtag http://t.co/m77VyfiCdb pic.twitter.com/J8ggytEdhK
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) April 23, 2014

So much for the NYPD social outreach !!!