traveler1116/iStock(LOS ANGELES) — An ad recruiting people for the Los Angeles Police Department appeared on the conservative news outlet Breitbart, and the department is asking questions about how it happened.
The ad appears to have been first highlighted by Noah Shachtman, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, who tweeted a screengrab of the ad on Saturday.
The LAPD responded on Twitter, acknowledging but not directly naming the right-wing website where the ad appeared.
“The LAPD celebrates diversity and embraces it within our ranks, and within the city we serve. We are aware that a recruitment advertisement has been circulated on a website that creates a negative juxtaposition to our core values,” the department tweeted on Saturday.
“We take matters like this very seriously, and have begun an initial inquiry into the matter and to determine its validity, as well as what future steps can and will be taken to avoid this situation occurring in the future,” the department wrote in another tweet.
On a separate Twitter account dedicated to recruiting, the LAPD later said it wasn’t the one to pick Breitbart as a host for one of its ads, pointing instead to Google Ads.
“The Personnel Department has not made any purchase of LAPD recruitment ads on Breitbart or similar sites. Recruitment ads were purchased through Google and ended up on sites that do not reflect the City’s values through automatic placement,” the recruitment account tweeted on Saturday.
“We have stopped these Google Ads altogether while we reexamine our ad filters and take all necessary steps to ensure tighter control of ad settings,” the recruitment team said in another tweet.
Google Ads did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore waded into the issue as well, reiterating that the details are being investigated.
“No. LAPD did NOT purchase or otherwise acquire ad space on that website. Senior leadership at LA City Personnel Department also relayed they did not authorize or pay for this ad either. Both Depts investigating whether spoof/other effort to discredit LAPD,” he wrote in a tweet on Saturday.
Breitbart is a conservative news site that was previously run by Steve Bannon, both before and after he served as chief strategist to President Donald Trump. Bannon returned to run the outlet after he was forced out of the White House in August 2017, but then he stepped down from Breitbart News in January 2018.
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