MPS warns over social media use after official account criticises London mayor
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has issued a reminder to officers to be “independent and impartial” at a all times after one of its official Twitter accounts appeared to criticise the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
A spokesperson for the force said the tweet, which has since been deleted, was “unacceptable” and should not have been shared from an official account.
The MPS Taskforce twitter account appeared to agree with a suggestion from a journalist that Mr Khan “doesn’t understand” disciplinary procedures at the force. The Taskforce retweeted the original post and added the comment: “Exactly this.”
The original post, on Thursday (February 17) related to a report in The Times that former MPS Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick had told colleagues that Mr Khan had given her an ultimatum to sack senior officers in Charing Cross police station responsible for a series of racist, homophobic messages, or face suspension herself.
However, during an appearance on LBC, Mr Khan rejected the claim: “It is not the case the commissioner was given an ultimatum to sack them or be sacked.”
In response to the MPS twitter post, Mr Khan said: “When you have Met police accounts amplifying information that is misleading, how is it possible for officers concerned about behaviour of other officers to come forward?
“Why are we surprised when whistleblowers don’t come forward if this is the attitude both the Independent Office for Police Conduct talked about and you’ve exemplified in relation to a blue-ticked account?”
