Cop Shops Around The Nation Think It's Hilarious To Crack Jokes About Coronavirus-Contaminated Drugs

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from the shitposting-away-your-credibility dept

At a time when people are getting hit with a lot of misinformation, and trust in law enforcement is at an all-time low, why in world would you do something like this?

Two dozen police departments, 10 journalists and radio stations, one Army substance abuse program, and a candidate for local sheriff have spread a claim on Facebook about meth possibly being contaminated with the novel coronavirus.

Some spread the false claim in an attempt at humor or to trick people into turning in their drugs, while others appear to have believed it was real.

“P.S.A WARNING: If you have recently purchased Meth, it may be contaminated with the Corona Virus. Please take it to the Merrill Police Department and we will test it for free,” said the most popular post from the Merrill Police Department in Wisconsin, which has been shared over 6,500 times and further spread through screenshots.

The Merrill Police Department updated its post 24 hours later with a non-apology and a “we’re just concerned about the well being of the people we lied to” statement.

It’s been 24 hrs so let’s bring this full circle. That last post really made the rounds and it sparked a lot of opinions, emotions, and touched some tender spots. Unfortunately it spawned some rather personal commentary too.

Just to give you some history, we have actually experienced people report their illegal drugs being stolen, being ripped off in a drug deal, being sold a look-a-like illegal substance, etc. We have even experienced drunk drivers coming to pick up arrested drunk drivers as their “sober responsible party”. So this attempt, although a long shot, still had some possibility behind it. We will take those easy grabs at removing poison from our community whenever we can. That is our role which we un-apologetically must fulfill.

I’m sure it’s the “personal commentary” that hurt the most, as commenters showed up to tell the Merrill PD just how stupid and wrong its original post was. The tone deafness continues throughout the update, culminating in the ridiculous assertion that the best thing that could happen to someone struggling with addiction is some time in jail and an arrest on their record.

It is our hope that an arrest would be the positive catalyst someone may need to start recovery.

This wasn’t the only police department to capitalize on coronavirus fears in hopes of making some easy arrests. While some of these posts may have been poor attempts at humor, local reporters made things worse by covering these announcements as though they were factual. Here’s a Texas ABC affiliate acting as a stenographer for pure bullshit:

Police in central Texas say they have reason to believe methamphetamine in Blanco County may be contaminated with the coronavirus and should be checked.

The offer comes in a public service announcement posted by the Johnson City Police Department to Facebook.

And, as if to demonstrate law enforcement’s lack of originality, here’s coverage of an Arkansas police department’s version of the coronavirus/meth hoax, although this one does at least points out the post was not well-received by residents.

St. Francis County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas shared a post on their Facebook page saying any recently purchased methamphetamine could be contaminated with coronavirus.

The department is offering to test the meth for free in the privacy of your home, if you’re uncomfortable with bringing drugs to a police department.

The sheriff’s Office posted the announcement to its official Facebook page Wednesday morning and it’s causing a lot of backlash.

Here’s an NBC affiliate with some straightforward reporting that inadvertently highlights everything that’s wrong with these “jokes.”

Bennington Police tap into coronavirus fears to catch meth users

Those who think — as these law enforcement agencies clearly do — that this is all harmless fun need to recalibrate their definitions of “harmless” and “fun.” It is not harmless when government agencies lie about health concerns. It makes them yet another untrustworthy source. The next time they need to insert themselves into the discussion about health — say, during a quarantine — people will be less likely to believe them and will have every reason to doubt their motives.

The same goes for the journalists who delivered uncritical reporting of these bogus PD statements. When your credibility is undermined, it’s hard to win that trust back. In the case of coronavirus, lives will be on the line and sources of life-saving info will be viewed skeptically. That hurts everyone. And all for a couple of cheap law enforcement laughs.

Filed Under: coronavirus, covid19, meth, police