Officers tell story of having Social Media policing problems
AN ALREADY stretched police service is seeing an increasing number of calls to crimes committed online – and more responsibility needs to be taken by social media giants, police officers have said.
Police officers are being called with ever more frequency to abuse committed on websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Some estimates suggest that around half of all calls made to the police originate from crimes committed online.
Ian Hopkins, national policing lead for digital engagement and deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: “When it comes to social media, people have moved their insults online and inevitably we are seeing more and more people contacting us over abuse and threats.”
“Some of these things are very minor and that should be sorted out by between themselves and the social media provider. There are some bigger issues that we have to deal with and that is totally acceptable.”
Alex Marshall, Chief Executive of the College of Policing, told the BBC’s Law in Action programme: “It is a real problem for people on the frontline of policing and they deal with this every day.
“On a typical day, where they might deal with a dozen calls they might expect that at least half of them, where they are around antisocial behaviour, or abuse, or threats of assault may well relate to Facebook, Twitter or other forms.”
Officers across the country have voiced their frustrations at being called to resolve disputes on websites belonging to a private company.
A Surrey PC said: “We need to educate people so that in the first instance they should be blocking and unfriending the person concerned and if the problem persists then report it to Facebook or Twitter. We cannot be responsible for policing the web-space belonging to a private company.
“ACPO and the Home Office need to be firm with social media companies – the onus is on them to sort out disputes on their websites.”
A PC from North Wales Police said: “Where it’s clear cut that it’s not a police matter – unless it’s a proper threat which we would take seriously – why are we being dispatched?”
A PC from West Midlands Police added: “We have no issue with the level of investigation we place on domestic violence given what has occurred in the past. However, social media has added an-other element. Most of it is harmless nonsense but if it’s between ex partners – all of a sudden it’s an investigation. Whatever the ultimate outcome it takes time and resources to sort the nonsense out. In a way it’s back covering – no one wants a serious case review do they?”
A sergeant from Thames Valley Police agreed that policing domestic violence makes forces and officers respond to more social media related calls. “A simple ignore social media policy will fail,” he said. “I’m not sure someone will be brave enough to make that call as imagine if we miss a do-mestic murder that started out as an internet harassment report and progressed. The victim gets ignored by the police and then isn’t confident to report when it starts to happen for real.”