So today some pretty grim news about the people who we entrust with maintaining law and order in this country has emerged, and it makes for depressing reading. Hundreds of police employees are being investigated for breaching social media guidelines after racist, sexist and threatening comments have been made on Facebook and Twitter. If that wasn’t discouraging enough, some police officers are even being investigated for sending friend requests to victims of crime and uploading images of colleagues in ‘compromising positions’. Good job, guys. Way to act with the professionalism and respect your job warrants.
Hundreds of police officers from forces across England and Wales have been investigated for breaching social media guidelines at forces across England and Wales across a five-year period according to documents obtained by the Press Association. 828 cases have been reported to police bosses in incidents ranging from social media gaffes to the kind of sackable offences that could threaten to bring different forces into disrepute.
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The known cases range from photos being posted of a police officer asleep while on duty, private massages and friend requests being sent to victims of crime and racially inflammatory language being posted on Twitter. About one seventh (14%) of all investigations resulted in no further action compared to around one tenth (9%) of cases ending in resignation, dismissal or retirement. Not all that encouraging, is it?
You really wouldn’t believe the shit women still have to put up with.
One person who is not at all surprised about the released figures is Helen (not her real name), a 29 year-old black female police officer who we spoke to this morning. In the three years she has been working with her police force, she’s seen so much entrenched racism and sexism that she’s not at all surprised that it’s began to manifest itself on social media. ‘I was only a week into my job when someone asked me where I was from “originally”,’ she explains to The Debrief. ‘When I said the South of England, they told me I didn’t look like I did. I assume this is because I’m from West Indian descent and not white Caucasian. For the record – I was born in England, as was my mother. Since that first week, I’ve heard so many racist assumptions being made against young black people – especially young men – who lots of the force seem to believe are genetically disposed to crime. In the last few years, I’ve heard a lot of racist comments being bandied around about Muslims and have heard a senior member of staff refer to a Muslim men as “terrorists” and “rag heads”. It’s labelled as “banter”, but it’s just not acceptable on any level, is it? And I consistently have to defend my position as a woman in the force. From people making invasive and derogatory comments about my sex life to being accused of flirting with suspects and victims on an almost hourly basis, you really wouldn’t believe the shit women still have to put up with.’
Sexism and racism is entrenched culturally in the police – people need to change that or these kind of social media gaffes are never going to stop.
With this kind of racism and sexism commonplace in her day-to-day working life, Helen wasn’t the least bit surprised when she saw it cropping up on social media. ‘There is a private Facebook group for people who work in our office and the stuff that gets posted there would make your eyes bleed,’ she explains. ‘This annotated picture of a woman from another force who was scantily clad and clearly inebriated wearing her helmet was posted, and you can imagine the kind of thing people were commenting underneath. There’s no explicit racism in that group, but I’ve heard that it goes on and I bet the cases exposed today really are the tip of the iceberg. Sexism and racism is entrenched culturally in the police – people need to change that or these kind of social media gaffes are never going to stop. It’s an attitude thing, not a management issue.’
For his part, Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, disagrees. ‘Social media is an incredibly useful tool for engaging with local communities and gathering intelligence. Forces must ensure officers are effectively trained and aware of the latest social media protocols.
‘Officers have an important story to tell, and it is vital the public hears what they have to say. Officers are always on duty and need to abide by the codes of conduct and ethics governing their behaviour, but should feel free to be able to express themselves within those boundaries without the fear of censure.
‘It is important to acknowledge that the majority of police officers perform their duties with the utmost integrity, discretion and in accordance with the high standards of behaviour rightly expected of them by the public.’
We’ll let you make up your own minds.
*Name has been changed
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.