New Zealand Police Told To Stop Spending Over $100,000 Posting Dog Pictures On Social Media

Sometimes even the most unflattering picture of a dog can cheer us up - if there is such a thing, that is. So we get the idea behind New Zealand Police's cute pooch posts.

I mean, seeing a picture of a dog would definitely prevent me from committing a crime so they're probably doing themselves out of a helluva lotta work.

However, they've posted that many adorable snaps that they've been told to reign it in and stop spending hundreds of thousands of dollars after forking out AUD $10,000 (£5,500/USD $6,900) for an audit of their social media.

According to the MailOnline, marketing company Socialites found that although posts using humour were 'human and authentic', the police should post more regarding their actual work rather than showing pictures of dogs.

Someone called the fun police.

Socialites presented their findings which included a figure that only eight per cent of posts related to actually preventing crime and 16 per cent to road safety warnings.

Facebook/New Zealand Police

The marketing firm used a slideshow with one section referring to the high amount of dog-related posts.

The slide read: "As we know this is a regular discussion point... we've addressed puppies. We love the tone adopted by NZ Police on social media - it's human and authentic, which is what we see effective use of social media being all about."

The company also included an assessment of thousands of comments on social media channels which found that the Southern district has among the lowest levels of positive comments in the country.

The MailOnline reported how New Zealand Police spent AUD $171,676 (£93,680/USD $118,440) on Facebook advertising in 2018, and almost AUD $1 million (£545,665/USD $689,900) on total advertising.

Now, the force's marketing manager Paul Halford said that the organisation's strategy was to 'engage' with the community.

He told Daily Mail Australia: "The Socialites review included how social media supports our objectives of building trust and confidence, road safety, crime prevention and victimisation, police recruitment, and helping New Zealanders be safe and feel safe.

"Understanding sentiment of social media commentary was a part of that. There is an important role for social media for New Zealand Police so our communities can remain informed and updated about what we are doing."

Topics: Australia News, News, Animals, Dogs

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

@RJShepherd94