Cops in China Use Criminal’s Childhood Pic On ‘Wanted’ Poster, Get Trolled

The cherubic faces of innocent children are endearing but show no indication whatsoever, as to what they may grow up to be. So when cops in southwestern China released a criminal’s childhood photograph for his wanted poster; people were perplexed and more than little tickled.

Officers in Zhenxiong county of Yunnan province posted 100 wanted photographs on Tuesday. Although four of these showed children, one, in particular, went viral. The picture features what looks like a toddler barely in primary school in a blue shirt staring quite innocently at the camera.

According to the South China Morning Post, the cops sent the following notice that included his ID card number.

“Ji Qinghai, male, ethnicity Han … is wanted by the police for involvement in a public nuisance case,” read the notice.

Take a look at the wanted poster-

Image source

The poster soon went viral on Chinese social media and garnered hilarious reactions. Officer Liu of the Zhenxiong county police attempted to clarify their reasons for using the old photograph stating that a recent picture was unavailable.

Liu added that the photograph they possessed of Ji at the time of the crime was blurry. This prompted them to use one of him as a child.

“His features won’t have changed. Look at his features clearly, his nose, eyes, ears, mouth and eyebrows. These won’t have changed. We welcome any tips,” Liu was quoted.

However, major backlash and trolling followed. Some of the commenters questioned why police sketch artists hadn’t made a recent portrait. Others questioned the police’s logic and competence, reported SCMP.

Image source

This caused the Zhenxiong police to reconsider their move. They wrote a letter apologising for the act on Weibo- a Chinese social media platform.

“The use of old children’s photos (now removed) has drawn the attention of netizens and created a negative influence. We sincerely apologise for the carelessness in our work,” Zhenxiong police wrote in a post.

The four posters with kids photos have been replaced with the words “recent photos not available”.

Well, what do you think of their folly? Hilarious mistake or inept oversight?

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