Hundreds of British cops are being investigating for acting naughty on social media.
For the past five years, cops over on Knife Island allegedly did a lot of stupid things on Twitter and Facebook, including send friend requests to victims, send Facebook messages that were seen as “abusive in nature” and posted pictures of their coworkers in “compromising positions.”
Of the 828 cases reported, nearly 10 percent ended in “resignation, dismissal or retirement,” the Guardian writes. Other reports didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute the officers on and the others ended with a warning.
What were the presumably bored officers up to? One was busted for making rude remarks about a colleague’s wife on Facebook. Another person seemingly couldn’t control themselves online because they resigned over “excessive and inappropriate use of the Internet during work hours.” And, to top it all off, a sergeant was busted for hacking into an ex’s Facebook account.
The Association of Chief Police Officers offers a handy guidebook so they don’t make boneheaded decisions while trawling the Internet. They’re told to entirely avoid the ‘net during their downtime and using social media after drinking “due to the potential for their judgment to be impaired.”
It also states: “It is recommended police remove personal details from the edited electoral roll, ensure telephone numbers are ex-directory, ask Google maps to remove pictures of their house, car or persons.”
We’d love to see their rules about Snapchat.
