--- title: NYPD Brag About Times Square Elmo Arrest on Twitter description: "Just another day in Midtown South" canonical: https://time.com/3393369/times-square-elmo-nypd/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-17T15:04:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:15.791Z og:title: NYPD Brag About Times Square Elmo Arrest on Twitter og:description: "Just another day in Midtown South" og:url: https://time.com/3393369/times-square-elmo-nypd/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NYPD Brag About Times Square Elmo Arrest on Twitter twitter:description: "Just another day in Midtown South" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The NYPD Bragged About Arresting Elmo on Twitter by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Sep 17, 2014 3:04 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Sep 17, 2014 3:04 PM UTC Earlier this week, the [_New York Post_](http://nypost.com/2014/09/12/nypd-schools-cops-on-humorous-tweets/)reported that the NYPD had been given directives on using social media: Be funny. “Tasteful humor is good,” the Twitter handbook (yes, really) said. So to test out its Twitter schtick, the New York Police Department’s Midtown South precinct posted a photo of an arrested woman in an Elmo outfit with the message: “Just another day in Midtown South. Elmo arrested in Times Square.” > [](https://twitter.com/NYPDMTS/status/512010640123506688) We don’t know where exactly embarrassing someone arrested for panhandling in a sting operation falls on the “tasteful” scale, but there you go. According to a [local ABC affiliate:](http://7online.com/news/fake-elmo-arrested-in-times-square/311807/) --- > “” --- There has recently been a crackdown on [costumed characters asking tourists for tips in Times Square](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-20/not-disneyland-times-squares-costumed-characters-take-tips). Surely the NYPD’s Twitter stream will be keeping followers up-to-date if things with Hello Kitty get out of line. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3393369/times-square-elmo-nypd/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3393369/times-square-elmo-nypd/"},"headline":"The NYPD Bragged About Arresting Elmo on Twitter","datePublished":"2014-09-17T15:04:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:15.791Z","description":"\"Just another day in Midtown South\"","url":"https://time.com/3393369/times-square-elmo-nypd/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3393369/times-square-elmo-nypd/","name":"The NYPD Bragged About Arresting Elmo on Twitter"}}]}] ```