Police rap `ears one I prepared earlier` posts on wanted suspect
A police force is putting the serious back into a social media search for a wanted burglary suspect that had giant consequences in its joke-laden responses.
A police force is putting the serious back into a social media search for a wanted burglary suspect that had giant consequences in its joke-laden responses.
The routine post by Great Manchester Police (GMP) Wigan East neighbourhood team went viral after Facebook users began to poke fun at the unfortunate size of the wanted mans ears.
Officers posted a picture of 18-year-old Caylan Cossick, wanted for allegedly stealing computer games, consoles and a laptop on November 3, on Facebook last week in the hope of gathering information about his whereabouts.
But the picture drew almost 40,000 comments, 11,000 likes and 18,000 shares with jokers comparing him to a Gremlin, Dumbo, a car with big ears, Star Wars` Yoda and the FA Cup.
Mocked-up pictures showed Mr Cossick peering in through a plane window as well as the International Space Station.
Officers at GMP Wigan East responded to the comments, pointing out to Facebook users the seriousness of the post.
Can I just remind the comedians and everybody else that this is a request for information about a person wanted for a theft act offence,” they said.
Can I also point out to all parties, including Caylan, that this post will be removed once the person named is detained.