A Request To The Civilian Press: When Writing A Story About A Serving Police Officer PLEASE Refrain From Sharing Their ‘Private’ Facebook Pictures

Earlier on today, our team of former emergency services ‘bloggers’ were contacted by a serving Police Officer who works alongside the Police Officer who was assaulted by Danny Cipriani.

As the ‘unofficial’ voice of the emergency services, we are always more than willing to use our platform as a means of voicing the issues and concerns of our former colleagues who are still serving on the front line.

Our oppo (our word for colleague) asked us if we could pass on a message to the civilian press, about the damage that is caused when they decide to ‘infiltrate’ the personal social media profiles of Police Officers who are unwittingly caught up in high-profile cases.

This is because The Sun has published some personal pictures of the Police Officer involved in this case.

At this point, some of you reading this might say that pictures shared on social media are ‘public’ or that Police Officers should take the time to ensure that their private profiles are ‘locked down’.

But then, you would be assuming that everyone knows the ins-and-outs of the many privacy functions and features which can be found within your ‘privacy’ settings on social media.

We would also ask people to keep in mind, that the Police Officer involved in this case, did not choose to be in the public eye, unlike, in this example, the defendant who was responsible for the chain of events which led to this incident occurring in the first place.

Our informant has told us, that as a result of the pictures of the Police Officer concerned being shared in The Sun, our colleague has now been told to remove their personal profile from social media.

‘So what’ I can hear some people say…

Well, social media is a tool that is used by EVERYONE in order to keep in contact with their family and friends.

But this ‘right’ that everyone with the internet can take advantage of,  has now been denied to this Police Officer because her pictures have been plastered all over the internet.

Of course, we should not also forget the fact that this can create an issue of personal safety for the Police Officer concerned.

We all know about the many plots which have been foiled by our excellent security services whereby delusional & brainwashed individuals want to try and harm Police Officers.

And anyway, why do we need to see pictures of the Police Officer who was assaulted?

How is a picture of a Police Officer enjoying some rare down time with family and friends in ANY way relevant or relative to a story of her assailant being handed down a fine for assaulting her in the first place?

On behalf of the 130,000 (or so) serving Police Officers, we are simply trying to ask the mainstream press to be a more ‘switched on’ when it comes to sharing pictures of our colleagues.

I doubt very much that additional website traffic has been gained from sharing the picture of the Police Officer involved in the incident, so why do it in the first place?

The Police Officer concerned in this case, now has the media camped outside of her house.

But most people with any common sense, will understand that even if a serving Police Officer wanted to talk to the civilian press about a high-profile case that they are involved in, then they can’t!

The Job don’t allow Police Officers to talk directly to the press – so why try and speak to her!?

Why not instead, speak to her local Police Federation rep who will be well-versed and trained to speak to the civilian media about this sort of ‘situation’ and can speak on her behalf, if she so wishes.

Not only does the Police Officer in this case have to come to terms with the fact that the bruises to her body are “worth” £250 instead of time behind bars, but she now also has to contend with having her own personal life intruded.

We know that we cannot change the motivation of people who will want to penetrate the private lives of the men and women who dedicate their own lives to saving others, but we hope that our subliminal message will have some effect and that maybe, just maybe, our colleague can have her life back; sooner rather than later.

We live in hope…