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."
