Police force is criticised after highlighting the dangers of knife crime in Britain with a photograph of a blood-soaked bed ‘in an Israeli hospital from 2017’
- CID West Midlands tweeted a graphic image of a blood splattered hospital room
- The image not of a recent knife incident or the aftermath of a violent crime
- It was posted by Israeli hospital in 2017 to raise awareness about waiting times
A police force has been criticised after highlighting the dangers of knife crime in Britain by using a photograph of a blood-soaked bed in an Israeli hospital from 2017.
CID West Midlands tweeted a graphic image of a blood splattered hospital room on its Twitter account this week and said: ‘If you want to carry a knife…think before you do. This might be what awaits you.’
But the shocking image is not of a recent knife incident or the aftermath of a violent crime.
It was posted on Facebook in 2017 by Meddy Bear – an online medical community – to raise why sometimes there are long waiting times on emergency wards.
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It shows an emergency room in an unknown location at a hospital in Israel.
On a separate blog post written by Meddy Bear on its website it said: ‘For those you know us and follow us, you may remember the image we shared on our facebook page that clearly describing what’s really going on in the operation room.
‘Originally, the image was taken in ER in Israel but the exact location we didn’t share because of privacy reasons.
‘The main goal and the purpose of the image was to raise awareness, not just to the medical stuff it self, but to all patients and family that are waiting in our hospitals halls or waiting rooms.
‘There is a lot of violence against the medical team these days. In Israel a while ago one nurse was burned until death by a patient and we hear a lot of similar cases also in India and other countries.’
A number of social media users were quick to point out the image doesn’t actually show knife crime or an incident in Britain.
One user said: ‘It’s an old pic about waiting times in hospital, it’s not a stab incident.’
While another said: ‘I agree, but it’s an image that’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
‘I haven’t seen this image for years until now, the police force seem to have got hold of it and all of a sudden its a knife crime.
‘It could actually be anything but, still a graphic wake up call to some.’
The image is now used all over the internet for a wide range of topics on message boards and forums around the internet, and has been re-purposed a number of times.
In some cases it is used to highlight the dangers of drink driving and in others to show trauma wards in war zones.
When asked about the image previously West Midlands Police said they did not know where the picture was from and thought it had been found on the internet.
A spokesman later added: ‘The image tweeted by a West Midlands Police account was purely to illustrate the horror of knife crime, which has affected communities both here and around the country.
‘We frequently have to deal with distressing scenes, and the image used was purely to illustrate the graphic nature of traumatic injury.
‘We continue to encourage our officers to highlight the positive work that the force is doing to tackle knife crime.’
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