Officers in New Zealand have been forced to repeatedly listen to NWA’s “F*** tha Police” by a person illegally broadcasting the song on their frequency.
Police radios have picked up at least two versions of the 1988 hit which protested against brutality and racial profiling.
Inspector Kelvin Lloyd told the Otago Daily Times that people had been put “in danger” by the broadcasts after the song interfered with armed police trying to co-ordinate their response to a man pointing a gun at a motorist.
“There’s no question that if it carries on and if they do what they’re doing it will delay a response,” he said.
The song was reportedly played multiple times on police radios over the weekend. Officers also picked up a cover version of the song by Rage Against the Machine.
Protesting police brutality and racial profiling, the song which appears on the Straight Outta Compton album was ranked number 417 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Its lyrics express approval of violence against police.
Inspector Lloyd said no police radios were missing and the department in Otago, an area of the South Island, was confident the songs were being broadcast by other means.
“Any interference with a police radio constitutes a risk to public safety, and anyone caught doing this can face a penalty of criminal nuisance and up to one year imprisonment,” he said.
It comes after reports in August of pig grunts and abuse being broadcast over police radios on the North Island.