#Fail: hundreds of police investigated for social media use
Trying to “friend” victims of crime, uploading inappropriate images of colleagues and making racist comments: hundreds of police officers are investigated for their behaviour on social media.
Hundreds of police employees have been investigated for breaching social media guidelines at forces across England and Wales over five years, according to information revealed after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
A total of 828 cases were reported to police bosses, ranging from making racist and threatening comments on social media network, to embarrassing gaffes.
According to Gwent Police, one PC was found to have acted inappropriately while attending a member of the public’s home address, asking her to become a friend on Facebook and later sending a message through the site. They received a written warning.
Another civilian officer posted a comment on a Facebook account about Muslims in central London failing to observe a two-minute silence: it was alleged the language used “could be regarded as offensive/inappropriate likely to cause offence to other persons”, police said.
People working in policing must always be mindful of the high standards that the public expect from us. Chief Constable Alex Marshal
Around 14 per cent of all investigations resulted in no further action or the personnel having no case to answer, according to a Press Association investigation. This compared with around a tenth of cases (9 per cent) ending in a resignation, dismissal or retirement.
Greater Manchester Police reported the most investigations (88), followed by West Midlands (74) and the Met (69). A total of 13 forces reported having ten or fewer investigations between January 2009 and February 2014.
Other examples include a constable who resigned over their “excessive and inappropriate use of the internet during working hours”, in particular the PC’s use of online auction sites, internet banking and social networking sites.
In Lancashire, a member of civilian staff received a written warning over critical remarks on their Facebook page about a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO): the person in question had issued the staff member with a fine for dog fouling. Within the same force, one PC also received management action after it was alleged they made inappropriate remarks on Facebook regarding someone’s wife.
Chief Constable Alex Marshall, chief executive of the College of Policing, said: “People working in policing must always be mindful of the high standards that the public expect from us.
“Our code of ethics, which was launched last month, sets out the standards which everyone in the service should strive to uphold whether at work or away from work, online or offline.”