In the fight against crime , one Welsh police force hit an unexpected stumbling block.
Having shared a mug shot of a man they wanted to speak to about a drugs-related incident to their social media account, Gwent police found the post quickly inundated with comments.
Unfortunately, they were nearly all terminally unhelpful.
Delighting in the man's unique hairstyle, social media users could not help but make a succession of follicly-related puns and jokes.
According to the New Zealand Herald , there were more than 84,000 comments and 14,000 shares on the post before Gwent Police deleted it.
Examples of the sort of thing being said were:
"He walked out of the complex at precisely 7.30pm, and his hairline at 7.45pm," one person commented.
Another joked: "He was last seen in town; Police are combing the area."
A third couldn't resist making a silly comment, adding: "Push his release date back further than his hairline, that should teach him."
There were jokes about his hairline being 'on the run' and one person wondered if Gwent police should take their search to Edinburgh because the annual Fringe Festival was on.
You get the picture.
However, while the police force admitted they were amused by a lot of the good-humoured ribbing, some comments took things too far, and the post got deleted.
"However, when the line is crossed from being funny to abusive, we do have to make sure we are responsible and remind people to be careful about what they write on social media.
"Please remember that harassing, threatening and abusing people on social media can be against the law.
"Our advice is to be as careful on social media as you would in any other form of communication. If you say something about someone which is grossly offensive or is of an indecent, obscene or menacing character, then you could be investigated by the police."
