By Police1 Staff
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A police officer who achieved viral fame after posting his interactions with the community on social media said he was told he could no longer post while on-duty.
Officer Tommy Norman said in a video posted to his social media accounts that he was told by his supervisors Wednesday that he couldn’t post things on social media on city time.
“There’s a policy in effect at the police department that prohibits you from posting on-duty that is now going to be enforced,” he said. “I have to respect the decision although i’m not happy with it.”
He said his followers would still see the people they’ve “fallen in love with,” just not as often.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficerTommyNorman/videos/1517542298325792/
The North Little Rock Police Department issued a statement obtained by KATV saying that they wanted to clear up confusion concerning Norman’s post.
“Officer Norman was not told that he could not post events on social media as he has done in the past. He was advised that we have a policy regarding these actions and all officers are expected to follow the policy and he would need to have any on-duty postings approved through our Media Relations Unit. The department greatly supports the work that Officer Norman has done and will continue to do in our community. During the meeting yesterday, we encouraged Officer Norman to continue his work in the community and that we would support future social media postings of his work.
The department would like to emphasize again that we support all of the work that Officer Norman has done and will continue to do in our community. We would also like to remind everyone that there are thousands of good deeds and acts of kindness done in our community and communities across the nation by police officers every day.”
Norman runs his own foundation as well, Mission Give, that he said will “allow me to begin my legacy to not be identified by my badge, but by my heart!”