Philly PD tweet: #PoopIsntWorthPrison

In a brilliantly fecestious move, the Philadelphia Police Department created a hasthag on Twitter this week that some social media users are calling the law enforcement hashtag of the year - #PoopIsntWorthPrison.

The hashtag was tweeted out from the department's account Tuesday in response to user @mistertug's question: "Hey @PhillyPolice is it assault if I whip someone's a-- for not picking up their dog's sh--."

"Yes. Call 911 to report it. #PoopIsntWorthPrison,"  the department tweeted.

The tweet quickly became the department's most retweeted of the year - 166 retweets and counting now - and it began trending locally and regionally on Twitter.

The bit of toilet humor was the brainchild of Sgt. Eric Gripp, who took over as the department's digital and social media manager in May.

"I guess that came to me in a flash," he said. "I wasn't up at night trying to come up with the next great American hashtag."

Gripp said he's using the department's social media accounts to connect with people on a more personal level.

"I liken it to trying to be more down to Earth and letting people see who's behind the curtain," he said. "We want people to know police officers are just like anybody else - the goofy neighbor down the road, the silly friend from high school - we're all those people."

Gripp says he doesn't respond to every tweet but when he sees an opportunity to respond to a silly question in a harmless way he jumps on it.

"We want to let them know we're in on the joke but we're not going to say go ahead," Gripp said.

The department's Twitter account has more than 22,000 followers, some of whom immediately began calling Tuesday's tweet the "law enforcement hashtag OF THE YEAR" and one of whom created a visual meme of a pooping dog to accompany the hashtag.

The hastag, though funny, is sadly applicable here in Philadelphia, a city where on Valentine's Day 2012 one man shot another to death over dog poo.