Poll: Should police officers use social media in their professional roles?
A total of 74 West Midlands Police staff have been investigated during the past five years for inappropriate use of social media – the second highest in the country.
Of the 39 police forces across England and Wales which responded to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, only Greater Manchester had a higher number of officers and civilian workers probed for breaching social media guidelines. A further four forces, including Staffordshire, refused to respond.
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The figures come six months after Inspector Michael Brown had his account suspended – and later reinstated – following allegations of misuse surrounding his postings about mental health issues.
In the hours before his account was suspended, Mr Brown tweeted: "Yep – on nights now and have just had a right old time trying to resource everything going off.
"The worst thing about it all, is that it's mostly a result of really poor choices, that didn't need to be made. Costing lives and billions."
Across England and Wales, a total of 828 police employees have been investigated for breaching social media guidelines during the five years up to February this year. Alleged breaches ranged from social media gaffes to sackable offences which threatened to bring forces into disrepute.
In some instances nationally, staff made racist and threatening comments on Facebook and Twitter, sent friend requests to victims of crime and uploaded images of colleagues in 'compromising positions'.
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