Kent Police Department explains the repost of a controversial X post

The Kent Police Department (KPD) reposted a controversial photo on its X account Monday referencing the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the organization known as Hamas. The repost then remained visible for at least some X users for more than 36 hours.

KIRO 7 detailed what its team saw and was alerted to in a story last updated late Wednesday afternoon.

The Seattle media outlet stated it was informed about the repost of a photo and caption that could be contentious to members of the community at about 8 p.m. Monday.  KIRO 7 reported it alerted the department of what it saw.

Descriptions of the content the KPD reposted may be disturbing for some. Reader discretion is advised.

The post from the X account that the KPD reposted states, “This is going to be the most iconic photo of the war. Hamas terrorist scum defeated by IDF female soldiers, with his head down and tied like a rat.” The @VividProwess X account bills itself as “PROUD JEWISH” and “PROUD ZIONIST” and has more than 240,000 followers.

As KIRO 7 explains, the accompanying photo with the post shows two female soldiers, both holding automatic weapons, and one pointing her fingers and mimicking a gun at a blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back who appears to have no clothes on except for a pair of black underwear. Interested parties can view the original X post here.

The Seattle media outlet stated it called and emailed the KPD and Kent Mayor Dana Ralph Tuesday afternoon about the repost. Within an hour of the email, KPD Assistant Chief Jarod Kasner got back to KIRO 7, stated it was a mistake and added that the post would be removed.

However, the KIRO 7 team stated it could still see the repost after noon Wednesday. From there, after the repost was visible for 40 hours — 1 1/2 days after KIRO 7 was alerted to its existence — and after KIRO 7 published its story online, the KPD deleted its X account at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The agency brought back its X account later in the afternoon.

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The Kent Police Department issues a statement about the X post

Shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, the KPD issued a statement on its Facebook page explaining its position about the repost on X of the @VividProwess account, noting it was “accidentally reposted.”

“The photo was reposted accidentally and was the result of human error – a miss-click of the keyboard,” the KPD statement reads. “As soon as the error was recognized on Tuesday morning, the photo was removed.”

The release goes on to say the KPD said it learned Wednesday a post may remain in a person’s X feed until the feed is refreshed. X’s Help Center explains that “undoing a repost will remove it from other timelines, however it may still appear on mobile devices displaying cached timelines.” That explanation is located about halfway down the page under the “How to undo a Repost” heading.

For that reason, the KPD elected to temporarily disable its X account, the release reads.

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The department’s statement reiterated the X repost was completed in error and its past activity on the social media website demonstrates that repost had nothing to do with the work it does and how it uses that account.

“The Kent Police Department X account is used to inform followers of major incidents, Department successes, and to warn individuals of safety issues,” the KPD release reads. “A review of past posts makes it evident that the post described above had no relation to the work of the Kent Police Department and was made in error.”

Kent’s law enforcement agency completed its statement by explaining it is “currently working to refine its process should an accidental post occur in the future.”

Contributing: KIRO 7

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.