PEI Police Force Apologizes for Threatening to Use Nickelback to Torture Drunk Drivers

I’m sure the police officers of the detachment in Kensington, PEI, are fine people. They thought they’d have a little fun by posting a Facebook message saying that they would subject impaired drivers to Nickelback’s Silver Side Up album on their way to the station. It was a harmless joke. Or so they thought.

After the story went viral, they ended up with some unwanted global attention. Now they’d like to apologize for all the fuss. This was posted on Facebook:

“I am sorry to (band members) Chad, Ryan, Mike and Daniel. Not as just members of Nickelback, but more importantly as fellow Canadians. I’m sorry guys because I didn’t take a moment to think of you AS just guys.  How would I tell my son he was wrong for picking on a kid in the playground when I was doing the same thing, but I was doing it not on the local playground, no, I was doing it on a global scale to a global audience.”

CTV News has more:

In Friday’s post, though, the officer said a message meant to deter drunk drivers instead made a charity-minded Canadian band — he particularly mentioned its response after the Fort McMurray wildfires — the butt of jokes around the world.

“I was sure a hugely successful band would be fine with a little goodwill shade thrown their way, after all it’s for a good cause. But the more successful the post became, the less the Don’t Drink and Drive message was mentioned and the fact we love or love to hate Nickelback took centre stage,” he wrote.

“And that prompted me to think less about Nickelback as the ‘entity’ and more about the four guys, four human beings from Alberta who were dragged into this international story. And the more I thought about that, the less funny the humour seemed.”

He said he loves being a police officer and being “a symbol of what is right and just with our world,” and suggested he felt hypocritical going into schools and telling kids bullying is wrong.

He said he reached out to the band’s four members and their families. “And as we spoke I found out some wonderful news. They feel just as strong about it as I do. So we decided it was best to take down the original post.”

More here. (Thanks to Tom for the link.)