Police have deleted and apologised for a tweet highlighting a constable who ran an internment camp for Japanese women and children during World War II.
Police are running a series of tweets commemorating Friday's International Women's Day, highlighting different women through history who worked for the force in New Zealand.
But they quickly deleted a tweet posted just before 12pm.
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"1941 - Constable Edna Pearce was seconded to the Department of Internal Affairs to take charge of an internment camp for Japanese women and children," it read.
Japanese people living in Allied countries were put in camps by governments fearful they might be loyal to Japan.
Twitter user Max Tweedie took a screenshot of the tweet, posting it to his own account saying it was "utterly horrifying".
Police issued an apology, saying they were "sorry if we offended anybody with our last tweet."
"We are wanting to show how far we have come. The timeline was put together for the celebration of 75 years of women in police."
Earlier on Friday, the police Twitter account announced it would be "sharing some notable firsts".
"Keep an eye on our feed throughout the day to learn some pretty cool facts."
Newshub.
