Twitter exploded with criticism of the NYPD following an incendiary tweet by a top New York cop.
The tweet, which said the department was "committed to rebuilding public trust" and hashtagged #WeHearYou, was sent as the public learned that a grand jury voted not to indict the officer involved in the death of Eric Garner.
A grand jury in Staten Island decided not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Garner, a 43-year-old black man who died in July after being placed in a chokehold.
Joanne Jaffe, chief of the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau, tweeted Wednesday afternoon, shortly after news of the decision broke:
The tweet immediately backfired, soon joined by a chorus of users outraged by the ruling. The hashtag #WeHearYou trended in the United States.
A good start would be proving that cops aren't above the law .@NYPDCommAffairs The #NYPD is committed to rebuilding public trust. #Wehearyou
— Matthew Hunziker (@DogCitizen) December 3, 2014
Elsewhere on Twitter, Senator Charles Schumer called for a Federal investigation into Garner's death, and comedian Chris Rock called the value of police body cameras into question.
Protests of the decision are planned across the nation, and will be accompanied by a heightened police presence in parts of the city.
Organizers said they want to avoid the chaos that unfolded following the decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
"We don't want to see rioting," Hazel Dukes, president of the New York state chapter of the NAACP told Reuters. "We don't want to see the destruction of our community."
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