UK police personnel disciplined over social media posts

Freedom of Information requests by the Press Association (PA), UK, reveal police officers made racist comments online and asked crime victims to become Facebook friends, BBC reported.

According to the PA hundreds of police personnel from across the UK had been investigated for breaching social networking policies.

Of 828 cases registered in England and Wales from 2009 to February this year, 9 per cent ended in resignation, dismissal or retirement.

According to The College of Policing, there was no place for officers who abused the trust placed ''in us by the public.''

About a seventh (14 per cent) of the cases reported resulted in no further action at all, while the majority of other cases were dealt with through advice being offered to the officer in question.

Investigations covered a wide range of offences ranging from online racial comments about Muslims to posting photographs in a  "compromising position" on a website.

Responding the development, the head of Professional Standards at Humberside police, chief superintendent Rick Proctor, said there are policies in place in the forcen designed to provide guidance to officers and staff about how they should use social media sites.

He added, if it ever became apparent that the guidelines had not been adhered to then those involved would be spoken to and where necessary an investigation launched.

He added any adverse findings from such an investigation might lead to disciplinary action being taken in line with current policies and procedures.

According to the chief executive of the College of Policing, chief constable Alex Marshall, people working in policing must always be mindful of the high standards that the public expected from the police.

He added, that the force's Code of Ethics, which was launched last month, set out the standards which everyone in the service needed to uphold whether at work or away from work, online or offline.

He added, the vast majority of police officers and staff upheld these high standards and in many cases were responsible for challenging and reporting colleagues who acted improperly or unlawfully.