US police officers are coming under fire today for sharing a video of a young child, now in protective custody, being encouraged to use horrific language by his family members.
The Omaha Police Officers Association, Nebraska, shared the video on its website earlier this week.
Police officers, who did not blur out the child's face, said they wanted to "stimulate discussion about problems in the community".
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Fox News programme shares a snippet of the video with subtitles provided and bleeps to block out the foul language. (Note - the programme descends into a shouting match between commenters after the video clip is shown.) The child's face is blurred in this version of the video.
The original video was found by a police officer on the Facebook page of a local gang member, and shows an African American toddler wearing only a nappy being taunted with racial slurs and obscenities from several adults, one believed to be the child's uncle.
Posting on their website, the Police Officers Association said;
"Folks ... this video is bad.
"Despite the fact that it is sickening, heartbreaking footage, we have an obligation to share it to continue to educate the law-abiding public about the terrible cycle of violence and thuggery that some young, innocent children find themselves helplessly trapped in.
"Now while we didn't see anything in this video that is blatantly 'illegal', we sure did see a lot that is flat out immoral and completely unhealthy for this little child from a healthy upbringing standpoint."
In a press release police said four children, including the toddler from the video, were removed from the home and taken into protective custody, and that Child Protective Services believed there were safety concerns in the home which warranted the children's removal.
Local police have now been subjected to a backlash however, with many members of the local community furious at their use of the footage online.
