How do you temporarily destroy a police department’s ability to function properly? Get a famous rapper to tweet the station’s phone number, claiming that it’s a line to apply for an internship. That’s what happened on the Twitter account of L.A. rapper The Game last night, prompting a flood of callers to dial in, jamming up emergency telephone lines and delaying emergency services in Compton.
Once police realized that the source of the traffic was The Game’s Twitter, which has over 580,000 followers, Sheriff Mike Parker tweeted at him: “Plz delete Tweet off UR wall of phone# that begins with 310: #LASD #Compton #Sheriff This is compromising public safety. Hi # calls.†Yes, you’re reading this correctly — the public safety of a large American city was briefly dependent upon a Twitter correspondence between a police sheriff and a rapper who once tried to fight with 50 Cent by launching a boycott group called “G-Unot.â€
The Game, who claims another Twitter user tweeted the number as a joke (“it wasn’t me (shaggy voice),†he tweeted at the L.A. Times), is now being investigated and may face serious criminal charges. His retort? “Yall can track a tweet down but cant solve murders ! Dat was an accident but maybe now y’all can actually do y’all job !!!! #iSpeak4ThePeople.†We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Game.
Tweet by The Game jams L.A. sheriff’s phone lines, delays deputies [L.A. Now/LAT]