Senior Met Police officers among hundreds accused of social media misuse, data reveals

Reports of social media misuse in London’s police force reached a four year high in 2020, data released via Freedom of Information (FoI) requests has shown.
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Senior Met Police officers are among the hundreds of cops accused of misusing social media, figures have revealed.

Reports of social media misuse in London’s police force reached a four year high in 2020, data released via Freedom of Information (FoI) requests has shown.

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Close to a hundred Met officers were reported - the highest for four years - with just a fraction of that number resulting in any sanctions.

And that data has shown in the past four years, 20 officers ranked at sergeant level or above were among those reported for inappropriate communications or unprofessional behaviour.

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A Met spokesperson said officers and staff were “regularly reminded” of their responsibilities regarding social media use.

It comes two months after a pair of Met officers who took photographs of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry and shared the images on WhatsApp were jailed for 33 months each.

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PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were sent to guard the scene where the women’s bodies were found in June 202, and left their posts to take photos - described as a “betrayal of catastrophic proportions”, the sisters’ mother, the Ven Mina Smallman, said in an impact statement.

Figures released by the force show that in 2021, 92 officers were investigated over claims of misusing social media, while in 2018 the number was just 14.

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While in 2019, 16 officers were investigated, and in 2020 it jumped to 62.

Of the 184 officers total investigated during these four years, 160 were police constables, while 12 were sergeants, eight were ranked inspector and above, and four were not stated.

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The police data also revealed the sanctions applied to some officers who were investigated, but some did not have outcomes recorded.

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However, just one officer’s investigation resulted in dismissal, and one other in dismissal without notice, of those with outcomes recorded from 2018-2021.

Four officers were handed final written warnings and five were given management advice, while seven were delivered written warnings and three would have been dismissed

The investigation results were also not recorded for all the officers, but 57 had no case to answer - almost half as many as the 37 which were found to have a case to answer.

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Seven reports were also withdrawn, during the four year period.

The Met spokesperson said: “Metropolitan Police officers and staff are regularly reminded of their responsibilities when using social media both at work and off duty.

“Under the Met’s social media policy, police officers and staff should apply the same professional standards to their online communication as they would in their face-to-face, telephone or e-mail communications, whether on or off duty.

“Social media should never be used by officers or staff in a way that breaches any of the Standards of Professional Behaviour.

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“The Code of Ethics places a positive obligation on MPS personnel to report inappropriate content or messages posted on social media platforms or messaging services in the same way they would if the behaviour had occurred offline.”