Police chief apologizes for Call of Duty-themed recruitment poster aimed at kids Peoria Police DepartmentA Police Department in Illinois has issued an apology after using Call of Duty imagery of cops holding weapons in a recruitment poster. Residents of Peoria, Illinois were baffled by a recent Call of Duty-style recruiting ad that they say promotes violence. The ad, which was posted on the Peoria Police Department\u2019s social media, showed officers in tactical gear holding guns and the tagline, \u201cstop playing games and answer the Call of Duty.\u201d The text used the same font as the popular FPS title. Images of the recruitment ad soon spread to Reddit where residents voiced their displeasure, calling the poster \u201ctone deaf.\u201d Others even took issue with the fact the ad only featured white men. As the backlash spread, the police department folded and issued a statement apologizing for the ad, which they admitted was aimed at younger audiences and gamers. Police department\u2019s Call of Duty ad sparks backlash Police Chief Eric Echevarria told the Journal Star that he believed the images on the poster would help connect to a younger generation. \u201cI want to apologize, sincerely apologize, if somebody was offended or if we offended anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s on me.\u201d \u201cIt was never my intention to offend any of our community members with the recruitment flyer that was posted on our Facebook page yesterday,\u201d he added. \u201cIt was simply a recruitment image I thought would appeal and connect to a younger generation. I take ownership of this, and I sincerely apologize.\u201d The police chief further noted that the department\u2019s goal is to find the best, most qualified officers in the \u201cmost caring and respectful way.\u201d Echevarria claimed that in the future, he and the rest of the department will be more careful with their recruitment strategies and look at things from a community perspective. This isn\u2019t the first time police have found themselves in hot water over a video game. In 2022, two officers were fired after they ignored a robbery in progress to catch a Snorlax in Pokemon Go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police chief apologizes for Call of Duty-themed recruitment poster aimed at kids Peoria Police DepartmentA Police Department in Illinois has issued an apology after using Call of Duty imagery of cops holding weapons in a recruitment poster. Residents of Peoria, Illinois were baffled by a recent Call of Duty-style recruiting ad that they say promotes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}