The Laval police have deleted evidence of a recent public relations gaffe.
The police removed a photo posted to its official Twitter and Facebook accounts showing six officers in riot gear holding a sign with the message “#Joyeuses fêtes Laval.”
The picture shows the officers clad head-to-toe in body armour looking directly at the camera from behind face masks and tinted shades.
Since it was posted to Facebook and Twitter on New Year’s Eve, the photo has elicited a flood of derisive online comments.
“Do these guys take themselves for marines or what?” wrote one user on the Internet forum, Reddit, while others called the stunt a lapse in judgment.
On Jan 1., the Laval police tweeted a link to a year-old YouTube video of officers and staff, smiling and wishing the people of Laval happy holidays, with the message: “Watch our 2013 clip until the end for the full context of our image with the GTI (Groupe tactique d’intervention).”
The controversial still of the officers in riot gear appears at the end of the video.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKo18mYAEqE&w=620&h=349]
The managers of the Laval police’s social media accounts weren’t available for an interview Saturday night, spokesman Lt. Sylvain Laurent said.
“I can’t tell you why it was removed, what the reasons were. I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not a fanatic of social networks so I can’t tell you more about what’s on our Facebook page than what’s in the papers.”
Source:: National Post
