Photo by AP/Craig Ruttle
VICE News is closely watching policing in America.
Check out the Officer Involved blog here.Gang members are reportedly seeking to make this New Year's Eve deadly for police officers, with calls on social media to launch a "Kill a Pig Night" — threats that have caught the eye of the New York City Police Department.The NYPD is investigating posts that contain threats against officers' lives in the city, according to a report today from local New York news site DNAinfo, particularly various threads and tweets laden with hashtags like #onlydeadcops and #wingsonpigs.Less than two weeks after NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot and killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley while sitting in their police car on a Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, the NYPD says it is not taking internet threats against its own lightly.Shortly before shooting the officers, Brinsley posted a picture to Instagram with a caption that read, "i'm putting wings on pigs today. they take 1 of ours….. let's take 2 of theirs," adding the hashtag "#shootthepolice" and references to Eric Garner and Michael Brown, two unarmed black men killed by police in two separate incidents over the summer.According to DNAinfo, 63 threats have been made against the NYPD since the December 20 police shootings, resulting in 16 arrests. A source told the media outlet that 23 investigations are currently open.
Check out the Officer Involved blog here.Gang members are reportedly seeking to make this New Year's Eve deadly for police officers, with calls on social media to launch a "Kill a Pig Night" — threats that have caught the eye of the New York City Police Department.The NYPD is investigating posts that contain threats against officers' lives in the city, according to a report today from local New York news site DNAinfo, particularly various threads and tweets laden with hashtags like #onlydeadcops and #wingsonpigs.Less than two weeks after NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot and killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley while sitting in their police car on a Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, the NYPD says it is not taking internet threats against its own lightly.Shortly before shooting the officers, Brinsley posted a picture to Instagram with a caption that read, "i'm putting wings on pigs today. they take 1 of ours….. let's take 2 of theirs," adding the hashtag "#shootthepolice" and references to Eric Garner and Michael Brown, two unarmed black men killed by police in two separate incidents over the summer.According to DNAinfo, 63 threats have been made against the NYPD since the December 20 police shootings, resulting in 16 arrests. A source told the media outlet that 23 investigations are currently open.