The Topeka Police Department (TPD) may be seeking a new social media manager amid fallout from a crude tweet that was “quickly deleted,” but cemented in social media archives with screenshots.
At 11:06 a.m. on June 16, @Topeka_Police, the verified Twitter profile of the TPD, issued a since-deleted tweet saying, “Does your child’s father have warrants? Is he carrying around any drugs? Has he been committing any crimes? Want to give him a Father’s Day he’ll never forget? Call TPD and we’ll help your family make a memory that’ll last a lifetime.”
The tweet no longer exists on TPD’s page; however, a few Twitter users’ tweets in response to the posting do remain on the platform.
A full day of backlash ensued before TPD issued an apology, claiming “the tweet was meant to be humorous and light-hearted,” despite the subject being imprisoning a child’s father and making the experience “last a lifetime.”
The department claims they learned their lesson, but that did not stop hundreds of netizens from commenting on the matter. In fact, the apology probably encouraged more users around the country to seek out the department’s original tweet, which would explain the glaring ratio of replies versus retweets and likes.