The tweet was a screenshot from a video that Southern District Police posted on Facebook earlier this month showing an officer fighting the Covid-19 virus, wild west style.
The video, which has since been removed, showed the officer in a standoff with a cartoon version of the virus.
In the footage, shot in Arrowtown, the police officer eventually defeats the virus with a quick-drawn spray of hand sanitiser.
NZ Police yesterday tweeted the image from the video with the caption: "high noon in Arrowtown".
Social media users were quick to criticise the "inappropriate" post, uploaded on the same week a police officer shot a man dead in Auckland.
"You just shot someone. Guns aren't a joke," one person said in response to the tweet.
"Shame on you posting this days after fatally shooting a man," another Twitter user said. "Guns aren't toys. You're not in a Hollywood western. Very, very disappointed to see this."
"The NZ Police SHOT someone this week. This is disgusting," another person commented.
Police have since removed the tweet.
A police spokesperson told the New Zealand Herald they "acknowledge the concerns".
"Police are aware that a social media post today, about a Ten One article summarising the engagement impact of a Southern District Police Facebook video posted on 10 April, has raised concerns in light of a recent fatal Police shooting," the spokesperson said.
"We acknowledge these concerns and apologise for the poor timing of today's social media post, which has been removed from Police's social media platforms. The original video has also been removed."
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Comments
Did the police kill someone with hand sanitiser? Did they wave a gun around irresponsibly for the promo video in Arrowtown? This is a good example of interpreting an innocent act through a veil of bad faith. We are in danger of becoming hyper-sensitive as a society if we can’t see the difference of, or willingly choose to be blind to, the intent of the actions of others.
Exactly. People just read WAY too much into things sometimes, and its getting worse and worse.
A Covid-19 awareness video... that was the intention but of course it's been taken and twisted to suit our unquenchable thirst for being outraged and deeply disappointed. To even suggest the NZ Police would purposely mock a serious real life situation is just being overly sensitive and completely losing focus of their true intentions. They don't even carry guns... I think they do a brilliant job considering all the criticism they receive and how under resourced they are
Do not give power to internet bullies. Do not apologize to a pack of hyenas. Twitter is a hateful cesspool packed with passive aggressive gammas.
This lock-down has given too much spare time to some people. Probably the same ones posting silly videos of their kids on FB. Well done to the Arrowtown cops.
PC BS.
I'll take a wild guess and say jafa Twitter users. Take their phones off them and make them stand in the corner.