For law enforcement officials using social media to break down the perceived wall between the public and police, 2015 has been a heck of a year.

“We meant it as something to show the lighthearted side of police officers, that police officers like to have fun, too” says Dover (Delaware) Police Department Public Affairs Officers Mark Hoffman, the mastermind behind the department’s hilarious “Shake It Off” video that went viral in January.

However, a Georgia police chief has recently learned that personalizing his department’s space too much can just as easily backfire. 

Officials in Varnell, Georgia have acknowledged that a video criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage, posted by Varnell Police Chief Lyle Grant, should have never been posted on the department’s Facebook page. 

But it wasn’t just the video that landed the department in hot water, it was Grant’s response to comments complaining about the July 1 post. 

The video shows Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, of Wayne, New Jersey, speaking at the U.S. Capitol building on the Supreme Court’s June ruling on same-sex marriage.

“In this city, in the building that sits across from this hill, the justices of the Supreme Court took their places on the bench to decide whether America should strike down the biblical and historic definition of marriage,” Cahn says.

“If a nation’s high court should pass judgment on the Almighty, should you then be surprised that the Almighty should pass judgment on that court and that nation?” Cahn asked.

Three weeks later, a woman identifying herself as a “gay citizen of Varnell” commented on the video, saying she found it “absolutely absurd that the (police department) has the video on their page.” She commented that she should “feel safe and protected” by the police department.

“What happened to separation of church and state,” she asked.

Grant, while logged in as administrator for the department’s Facebook page, decided to answer. 

“If it’s good enough for Congress to hear then we the people should hear it also, you are a guest on our page, it is not run by, or endorsed by the state,” he wrote. “Not just the There is a delete button to select if you do not like a post. Signed Joshua 25:15”

There is no Joshua 25:15 in the Bible. Joshua 24:15 states, in part, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

“I responded that way because I am a little standoffish from time to time,” Grant said.

Grant admits that posting the video on the department’s official Facebook page–it has since been removed–was “probably” not the proper thing to do. However he claims he wasn’t trying to offend anyone with it.

“It was coming across the newsfeed and I posted it,” he said. “(Cahn) was talking in a federal building about George Washington 200 years ago and about how the country was founded and (he) said we need to get back to the grassroots of how the country was founded.

“Maybe Facebook wasn’t the proper medium for that. I just found it interesting.”

Varnell mayor Anthony Hulsey said Grant told him he inadvertently posted the video when he was logged in as the administrator for the police department’s page.

“He told me he didn’t realize he posted until after it already hit,” Hulsey said.

Hulsey said while he personally did not see anything wrong with the video, he does not think it should have been posted on an official police page.

He also admits Grant’s response to the woman was less than professional.

“That was probably an inappropriate response to what she said,” he said.

“I’ve talked to the chief (Lyle Grant) about it and I’ve advised him moving forward that anything that goes on that Facebook page needs to be city or police related.”

The Dalton (Ga.) Daily Citizen provided details for this story.