POLICE SHOULD NOT BE TRIALLED IN COURT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
In recent times, the Police Association has seen a disturbing trend emerge on social media where short videos of our members’ interactions with the public are being posted. The edited versions of these videos are taken out of context depicting our police as being heavy handed.
The most recent incident involved two police officers interacting with a man after they were called to the scene as members of the public and small business owners felt threatened on High Street in Penrith on 23 June.
The even more concerning issue for the Police Association of NSW is the use of these videos by elected officials to what the Police Association believes is a direct attempt to enhance their political profiles as is the case with Melissa McIntosh MP who shared on her own social media that she had written to the Nepean Police Area Commander, the NSW Minister for Police Yasmin Catley and the State Member for Penrith Karen McKeown who, reacting to the Federal member, requested that the matter in High Street Penrith be reviewed.
Policing is hard enough without politicians grandstanding without the facts. Police officers operate under strict guidelines with strong review processes in place to ensure professional standards of conduct are followed. A short edit of a video on social media doesn't explain the why or how police came to speak to that individual.
PANSW President Kevin Morton said it is important that police actions aren’t judged based on a short social media clip without the full context. “I've had enough of our police being portrayed in the court of social media where all the facts aren't known and I will call out publicly any politician who then uses it to grandstand as we lead into a state election in March next year.
“If any politician wants the true facts, I would be happy to take their call.”
“What’s not seen in the social media clip is the young homeless family that were terrified and thanked the officers. These fine officers then from their own money bought the family a meal. This is true community policing, not to mention if they had done their due diligence, they would have found out the background of this person and his current status with the courts.”
Media contact:
Elyssa King
PANSW Media Officer 0484 777 780 |
media@pansw.org.au