Cleveland Police invites you to celebrate Furries

[ResisterRex]

This "amazing and unique artwork" has tweeted by Cleveland police and remains up - since 5 Dec.

twitter.com/clevelandpolice/status/1599766240716800002?s=46&t=6r6Eu6dev_pZCGgZGTUoaw

They are aware of online comments about it:

twitter.com/ClevelandPolice/status/1600145417278173184
1/2 Cleveland Police is aware of the interest on social media in the recently published artwork. This is the artwork of a 14 year old girl who created the art following some positive engagement work with the Redcar and Cleveland Response Team.

twitter.com/ClevelandPolice/status/1600145470613061632
2/2 There is no hidden messaging or political statement being made in the art. It is an innocent design created by a young girl.

Please can we ask that people respect the talent and consider the impact the negative comments may have on such a young person.

But seemingly not aware that the account they link to, might well have fished them in. Created in Dec 2022, with a bio that includes: "@ Clevelandpolice are my heroes, please shoutout to them for spreading furry positivity". Sure, it could be a 14yo girl but if it is, do they know who she is and have they considered the impact of her spreading news of an adult sexual fetish? Have they considered that, if this is true, she might actually be in need of a safeguarding assessment?

Then there's the fact that the "furry" officer's radio appears to have a Nazi SS symbol on it. Is that appropriate "artwork" for the police to be spreading, or is that a cause for concern in what's purported to be a 14 yo girl?

If they have been fished in, then what does THAT say about the police?

So the Ellie Twitter account isn't real - it's a troll. But does the artwork itself come from a genuine 14-year old girl? Cleveland police seem to be very sure of its provenance because they say she drew it "following some positive engagement work with the Redcar and Cleveland Response Team." That suggests they have met her in person.

I still have a lot of questions, including why a 14-year old girl would draw such a bizarre image and why the police are applauding a representation of one of their officers with a frankly sinister-looking furry face, a gun, and a Nazi symbol on his uniform.

Assuming this does genuinely come from a 14 yr old then I think the SS symbol is just an unfortunate resemblance rather than intentional. It looks like it's supposed to be the shine on the screen of the radio rather than anything sinister. Not sure why there's a gun though, perhaps influence from American TV shows.

I also wouldn't read too much into the symbol on the screen. Do an image search for "mobile" "lightning" "symbol" and you'll see that such symbols are regularly used for mobiles to signify a number of different things.

As far as the wider context, it's dodgy as fuck, and Cleveland Police have shown themselves to be not only fools but also reckless by not having safeguarding in mind when interacting with female children on social media.

@RoyalCorgi I was the one thinking the account was a troll. But I noticed its been directly @ed by the Cleveland Police account. So either Cleveland police know so little about how the internet works that they thought they could trust the account was Elie just because the account said so OR the account really is that of a precocious 14 year old who tweets about how they will do NSFW furry art on request and whose father is a police officer who is happy with her using this to boost her profile. Which again - huge safeguarding mess.

I have zero faith in the police generally because of the misogyny, homophobia, mendacity, corruption and incompetence, but this evidence of foolishness and gullibility as well is so depressing.

I think they have now deleted their Twitter posts.

Not before they were archived ;o)

We Are Fair Cop on the deletion:

twitter.com/wearefaircop/status/1601948600917020673?s=46&t=UlcbGmg9xmOPIy7eqZe-oA

"And yet you delete it. So what is it @ ClevelandPolice? You have let yourself been bullied into deleting a ‘perfectly harmless’ piece of ‘art’ - or too many people were objecting to your promotion of adult sexual fetish?

I think it’s important that we understand what is going on here. Is this someone gone rogue on your social medias, reigned in by someone with a little more sense - or is this a deliberate, calculated policy, approved at the highest level?

Are you just ‘testing the waters’ and seeing what people will tolerate? Pushing those boundaries a little further each time?"

I'd say it's in the public interest that they account for this. Doesn't seem to be anything on their PCC's page about it either.