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Oak Bay chief puts an end to dad jokes on police Twitter

No more jokes on Oak Bay Police Twitter account
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Chief Ray Bernoties of the Oak Bay Police Department has run one of the most popular police Twitter accounts in B.C. (Travis Paterson/News Staff)

The man behind what might be the most playful and active police Twitter account in Canada is taking his dad jokes to his personal account.

Newly appointed Chief Ray Bernoties will still use the Oak Bay Police Department Twitter account. But after years of mostly positive feedback, he’s seen enough negative feedback from dissenters and will shift the department’s main account to a bare bones, business-like use of social media.

“Creating my own account is something I had been contemplating but I have no interest in having a boring account filled with selfies to show the public that I attended various events,” Bernoties said on Monday. “Even my family wouldn’t want to follow that.”

READ ALSO: Oak Bay cops tackle tough subjects with Twitter humour

Bernoties’ use of social media is part of the community engagement that Oak Bay Police is known for and will continue, he said.

“I like engaging people and showing our human side but, as you can imagine, if your goal is to have people hate police, our account was a problem and thus a magnet for cop-haters.”

Bernoties said he is worried his humour (or lackthereof) and cheeky demeanor may impact the image of his staff.

The current climate of anti-police sentiment has also played a role as ACAB (all cops are bastards) has shown up in his social media feed. Last week a vandal even spray-painted “kill police” in Oak Bay.

READ MORE: Officer leads the flare in Saanich Police’s social media

“If someone wants to say RIAB (Ray is a bast—d), I have no problem with that,” Bernoties said. “But ACAB is an unfair attack on all cops including my colleagues, friends I’ve lost, and others who are doing things most will never have to do in their lifetimes,” Bernoties said.

Expect the Oak Bay Police regular Twitter account to become what you would expect from other police Twitter accounts, Bernoties added.

reporter@oakbaynews.com


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