Taylor Police Google search reveals pictures of marijuana, leading to FCC concerns
Pot photos pop up in Taylor police Google search
The Taylor Police Department got a real surprise ? when they learned what comes up when you Googled their department. A whole lot of pictures of cannabis plants and videos!
TAYLOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Taylor Police Department got a real surprise when they learned many pictures of marihuana plants popped up when you Google their department.
Big picture view:
By simply Googling "Taylor Police Department" in recent times, people were met with multiple pictures of cannabis, leading to obvious confusion.
Taylor Police Chief John Blair admittedly laughed when a concerned citizen called and thought maybe the department did some rebranding on social media.
"Although we have a good sense of humor over here, we like a good joke. We did not post those pictures on Google," said Blair.
What they're saying:
Amidst the mystery, FOX 2 got a message Tuesday on Facebook from a man who claimed to be the behind what looked like a prank. He says he was trying to get creative with advertising the cannabis plants he grows, trying to drive folks to his own social media pages, and claimed he meant no harm at all.
He got his 15 minutes of fame, but the flames died out.
"We did contact Google, and they do their investigation and thankfully at this moment it appears the pictures have been removed," said Blair.
The mystery man might have a chronic problem on his hands now.
"The issue is not over. I can tell you there are some things that could happen. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can take a look at this, the state police potentially could be looking at it and then there are civil remedies as well," said Blair.
What's next:
FOX 2 was told of the possibility of some serious fines from the FCC.
"You can imagine a small business or any business at all. Someone posting false information about them could be very harmful to them," said Blair
FOX 2 does not want to make this a how-to roll your own segment, but it’s not hard to pull this off as the chief kept it blunt.
"It could be pornography on there, and we just don’t want that image displayed for the city of Taylor, especially the police department," said Blair.