Get on with the job
POLICE CHIEF DEMANDS END TO SOCIAL MEDIA ‘VIRTUE SIGNALLING’
THE chief constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says officers must cease “virtue-signalling” on social media and get on with the job they are paid to do.
Stephen Watson replaced Ian Hopkins as GMP’s Chief Constable in May 2021 after the crisis-hit force was placed in special measures in December 2020.
Mr Watson had blamed a “failure of senior leadership” for the force’s problems and promised a “dialled up muscularity” in his approach to crime, leading to GMP being moved out of special measures last month.
The chief constable, who is seen as an ‘old school’ police chief after banning his officers from having tattoos visible while on duty, told The Times: “Using social media, in these very contested times, requires a particular skill.
“And it’s a skill that we do not have.
So for the most part, regardless of our intentions, we tend to use social media badly.”
He continued: “And actually, reaching out to communities is all too often perceived as virtue signalling. And, candidly, in some cases it is virtue signalling.”
The chief constable said he had looked at officers’ social media and thought they should “get on with being the police because that’s what you are paid for”.
He added: “The public genuinely don’t care what I have for breakfast, or what my opinions are on contemporary social issues.”
Mr Watson was praised by the Home Secretary earlier this month, with Suella Braverman saying he “rejects woke policing”.
She added at the joint annual conference of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APPC) on November 9: “The way to ensure public confidence in the police is to focus on getting the basics right.”
Ms Braverman added: “Our police officers’ time is precious and the public want the police to be tackling crime, not debating gender on Twitter.”
Mr Watson appeared to agree, telling The Times: “I think that we are better served by dishing up to the public the things that they have every right to expect of us.
“And to just do that constantly, consistently and to the exclusion of pretty much everything else.”