Police chief apologizes for ‘insensitive’ viral photo of officers holding ‘homeless quilt’
The chief of an Alabama police department
apologized Monday following backlash surrounding a Facebook post with a
photo of two smiling officers posing with a “homeless quilt” constructed
from panhandling signs.Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste called the photo an “insensitive gesture.”
It shows the officers holding a collection of panhandling signs
– “Anything helps” can be seen on a couple of the signs and “Need help”
is written on some of the others.“Although we
do not condone panhandling and must enforce the city ordinances that
limit panhandling, it is never our intent or desire as a police
department to make light of those who find themselves in a homeless
state,” Battiste said in a Facebook post.True view of American heartlessness.
Police chief apologizes for ‘insensitive’ viral photo of officers holding ‘homeless quilt’
The chief of an Alabama police department
apologized Monday following backlash surrounding a Facebook post with a
photo of two smiling officers posing with a “homeless quilt” constructed
from panhandling signs.Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste called the photo an “insensitive gesture.”
It shows the officers holding a collection of panhandling signs
– “Anything helps” can be seen on a couple of the signs and “Need help”
is written on some of the others.“Although we
do not condone panhandling and must enforce the city ordinances that
limit panhandling, it is never our intent or desire as a police
department to make light of those who find themselves in a homeless
state,” Battiste said in a Facebook post.True view of American heartlessness.