The Regina Police has issued a cease-and-desist order to Regina Victory Church, after a video depicting RPS officers was discovered on their Facebook page.
The video, uploaded to the church’s YouTube page, shows people dressed as RPS officers arresting people “in the name of the Lord.”
Les Parker with the RPS says the makers of the video didn’t have RPS permission.
“You would need the express permission of the Chief of Police in order to use our brand, our insignia, or our logo,” said Parker. “This didn’t occur, and we were made aware of it, so we put out a letter of cease-and-desist on it.”
In the minute-long video, actors playing “Evangelical officers” tackle a suspect to the ground, while another throws a bible at him, while yelling “In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.”
Parker says incidents like this aren’t all that common, but when they do happen a cease-and-desist is always issued.
“It does come up time to time, where we will contact people and ask them to stop the use of our brand,” said Parker. “We just want to be in the know, just like any other organization, on how our brand is being used, and if it’s in alignment with our philosophies, and with our brand.”
The video came to light after the church was accused of making anti-LGBTQ2S+ comments during a sermon earlier this month.