I get calls probably twice a month from a reporter doing a story on how their local police are using humor in social media. They usually want to ask some version of the question “Is that appropriate?” Just today CNN emailed about the Hillsboro, OR Police posting a humorous video to recruit a new Police Chief. While it continues to boggle my mind why people think police can’t or shouldn’t use humor, at least these reporter inquiries are better than the other two calls every month about how some police officer did something rather career threatening on social media, so I’m rolling with it.

The latest cop humor on Twitter comes from York Regional Police. (YRP) A tweet from @Sunith_DB8R this morning went out in Ontario asking for a drug deal in the Vaughan area. The tweet caught the eye of York Regional Police Corporate Communications Supervisor Stephanie Mackenzie-Smith who encouraged Police Constable Blair McQuillan to answer.

Mackenzie-Smith says the phones at YRP haven’t stopped ringing since. But it’s not the first time YRP has made news with Twitter. Last year, @brittvny tweeted about having been smoking pot when she then realized the YRP office at the mall was nearby. YRP had an answer for her too.

@SeattlePD is also a frequent funny tweeter:

In June, after SPD arrested a man for damaging a Norway Maple tree, they tweeted:

Some of the funniest bits come from @SolihullPolice in the UK. One of their most famous:

But some other fun tweets from Solihull PD:




If any of the above aren’t providing comedic relief when you tune in, you can count on @AbbyPoliceDept just about any day:




In the meantime, back in Ontario, Sunith spent the rest of the day tweeting that people shouldn’t take his tweets so seriously. But most signifcantly, he tweeted a thanks to YRP for “making him famous.”