This event is exclusive to Friends of Tortoise
This is a digital-only ThinkIn.
Misogynistic content of private police WhatsApp groups brought both shame and scrutiny on police culture last year. But even some of the things police officers say in public – both in official statements and on personal social media accounts – can be jaw-dropping. At the Tortoise Policing Inquiry in November last year, we heard that ‘police Twitter is a cesspit’. For the purposes of our investigation into police culture, such public content is a potent source of evidence – but the negative effects of social media echo-chambers, exaggerating and endorsing unacceptable attitudes – are well-documented. How should police use of digital communications platforms be moderated? Should serving officers be banned from Twitter?
This ThinkIn is part of Tortoise Investigates: Police and Misogyny. A year-long collaboration between Tortoise reporters and members, this project seeks to explore the way police culture consistently permits the failure to prosecute, and sometimes even to investigate, sexual and violent crime against women and girls.
If you have an experience to share that would help our investigation, on or off the record, please contact liz@tortoisemedia.com.
editor
Liz Moseley
Editor