Twitter critics take on LAPD after NY police hit on social media

A Twitter backlash against New York City police has spread to the West Coast with people posting critical comments and photos of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The New York Police Department was hit with a barrage of negative publicity after agency officials urged people to post pictures that praised officers under the hashtag #myNYPD.

On Wednesday, people were using a #myLAPD hashtag to post critical comments and photos of Los Angeles police officers.

One post showed a photo of police officers in riot gear wielding batons. It said the LAPD has learned “how to keep a country’s population under control.”

Another showed a photo of rogue former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner, saying he had “already exposed them in his manifesto.” Dorner, accused of murder and attempted murder, died last year in a fiery gun battle with law enforcement authorities in the Big Bear area.

Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the LAPD was aware of the negative tweets.

“It’s an opportunity for people apparently to vent about how they feel about the Police Department or to bring up things that people perceive that we did wrong in the past,” Smith said in a report broadcast on KTLA-TV Channel 5.

robert.lopez@latimes.com
Twitter: @LAJourno