False posts deride woman cop in Sydney as 'frozen' during mass shooting
- Published on December 19, 2025 at 10:14
- 3 min read
- By Dene-Hern CHEN, AFP Australia
After 15 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach in Sydney, an image of a woman police officer with her arms raised was shared by social media users falsely claiming she "froze" in the face of danger. The New South Wales police commissioner said the photo was taken "completely out of context" and that the officer was trying to get the public out of harm's way. Other photos show she was telling people to move, the photo agency that published the images told AFP.
"OUTRAGE IN SYDNEY: Eyewitnesses blast 2 female police officers for 'FREEZING' during the Bondi Beach terror attack," reads an Instagram post published December 15, 2025 by an Australian user.
The post shares a photo of an officer holding her hands up while another standing behind her appears to be in shock.
Similar claims circulated on Facebook and spread to other countries, including the United States and Canada.
The photo emerged on social media platforms after gunmen opened fire at a Jewish festival on December 14, killing 15 in an attack authorities linked to "Islamic State ideology" (archived link).
The image drew sexist comments about the officers, with one Australia-based user saying: "I'm sorry, but female cops do not cut it."
"DEI HAS CONSEQUENCES," declared another, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programs that have come under attack since US Donald Trump returned to office in January (archived link).
But Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner of New South Wales -- the province where Sydney is located -- defended the officers in the picture, saying the one with her hands up had "been wrongly presented as someone surrendering" (archived link).
"That officer attended that scene with her partner in a motor vehicle, they were fired upon as they attended. There were bullet holes in the front windscreen of the vehicle," Lanyon told local morning radio show "Ben Fordham Live" on December 17 (archived link).
"She continued to perform her duty. Her hands were up in the air at that stage as she was giving an indication to members of the public to continue moving because she was trying to prevent further harm."
New South Wales police referred AFP to Lanyon's public comments on the issue.
'She was not frozen'
A reverse image search led to an uncropped photo that shows more people in the foreground moving past the officers, according to local news outlet News.com.au, which also debunked the false claim (archived link).
The outlet published another photo showing one of the officers gesturing to her right and appearing to urge pedestrians to move along. Both photos were credited to Backgrid, an agency that specialises in celebrity and breaking news photography (archived link).
Backgrid told AFP in a December 19 email that the officer was "telling people to move on, move away".
"She was not frozen based on the photos taken by the photographer," the agency said in an email.
In his interview with the morning radio show, the New South Wales police commissioner praised her as "exactly the type of officer we need in the police force" and lambasted the misinformation surrounding her photo as "incredibly harmful" (archived link).
"My concern is that that type of misinformation and misrepresentation will tend to lead officers to leave the police force because they don’t feel supported," Lanyon said.
AFP has fact-checked numerous other claims about the Bondi Beach shooting.
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