British Columbia’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (BCRCMP) issued an apology after someone handling the law enforcement’s social media that day turned on the cat-filter during a murder case briefing by their precinct’s sergeant
The goof-up turned on the cat filter during the live-streaming of a briefing on Facebook as Sergeant Janelle Shoihet was addressing a double homicide matter on Friday.
The Police department claims that the slip-up was purely accidental as they would never think of doing such a thing during such a serious briefing.
A photo of the officer with added animated cat features—pink ears and whiskers—was shared by a journalist on Twitter.
The police official was briefing journalists about the murders of an American woman and her Australian boyfriend, who were found dead on a remote highway earlier this week.
While most people were puzzled and wondered if it was a photoshopped image, the police later clarified that the use of the filter was a mistake and apologised.
“Yes, we are aware and addressing it as it’s an automatic setting. Thank you, we will rectify and issue a video shortly,” they wrote online.
The RCMP later uploaded a version of the press conference in which the cat filter wasn’t used. But many questioned why the police force had a cat-filter “as an automatic setting”.
Many reacted to the incident with memes and GIFs, while others said that the police should have double-checked the settings given the seriousness of the matter at hand.
This is something they should’ve checked when doing a presser on murder. https://t.co/WFVzK3Nnu9
— Rep. Jim Nash (@JimNashMN) July 22, 2019
The intern is getting fired. https://t.co/wyLZA5h5AU
— Kevin Bellinger (@cluelessmuppet) July 22, 2019
Yes we are aware and addressing it as it’s an automatic setting. Thank you, we will rectify and issue a video shortly.
— BCRCMP (@BCRCMP) July 19, 2019
