Police officer in trouble after his Scousers remark
TWEET APPEARED TO REFER TO HILLSBOROUGH
Reporter A SERVING North East police officer has come under fire on social media for a comment which appears to refer to the Hillsborough disaster.
Criticism was levelled at PC Curtis Ritchie after he commented on a BBC News tweet on New Year’s Day.
Replying to the BBC story about the Liverpool Echo Arena multi-storey car park fire on New Year’s Eve, PC Ritchie wrote “Have they started blaming the police yet ???? ”.
Twitter users from Liverpool accused PC Ritchie of making a reference to the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 Liverpool football fans were crushed at the Sheffield stadium in 1989.
Families of the victims campaigned for years to get justice after the crush was blamed on the behaviour of fans, by The Sun newspaper.
In 2016, a second inquest into the deaths found that all the victims had been unlawfully killed.
The jury also determined that the thousands of Reds fans that travelled to Hillsborough for the FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest played no role in causing the disaster.
In light of PC Ritchie’s comments, social media users contacted Northumbria Police to complain. Alan McAlees wrote: “Can you please ask PC Curtis Ritchie (8873) to elaborate on his recent comments to the people of Liverpool & particularly families of the 96 ?
“I find it quite shocking and disturbing and would like clarification this is not the view held by NPN Berwick”.
@Timj51 commented: “Is it ok for PC Ritchie Curtis to tweet a disparaging remark about Scousers. I await your reply with interest.”
PC Ritchie, who is listed as Wooler Neighbourhood Beat Manager on the police website, has now made his Twitter account private.
A Northumbria Police statement said the officer had been spoken to by his manager.
A spokesperson said: “Northumbria Police does not condone the comments made by one of its officers on Twitter, it is clearly unacceptable.
“The force expects all its officers to uphold the highest levels of professionalism.
“The officer involved has expressed regret for any offence and upset caused and has received management advice regarding his actions.”