Greater Manchester Police cracks down on officers…

Greater Manchester Police cracks down on officers using WhatsApp

Police bosses are cracking down on cops using WhatsApp.

Last month GMP carried out a software update which removed the 'personal side' of police issue phones, so officers can no longer download apps such as WhatsApp as they had done previously.

The move comes on top of a string of internal messages from bosses to rank-and-file cops, warning them about sharing inappropriate content via social media even while off duty, the M.EN. can reveal.

Details of the crackdown have emerged following disciplinary action taken against officers based in north Manchester behind a 'racist' WhatsApp group, although GMP insist the crackdown had started long before its investigation into that group.

Insiders say police WhatsApp use has 'dropped off a cliff' since the M.E.N. reported on the group, titled 'The Dispensables' and subtitled 'the gods of north Manchester who risk their lives every day to f*** jobs off'.

One experienced officer said: "Even though they weren't supposed to, shifts were using WhatsApp on jobs, for instance missing people or suspects they were trying to find because it was just way quicker to share pictures that way than using our own technology. Cops tend to find a way and that was it."

Another said cops all over Greater Manchester who didn't have their own private phone were getting one, as they had been using their police devices for personal reasons.

PC Graham Atkinson was handed a final written warning (Facebook)

He said: "WhatsApp is still being used, but only on personal devices now because of the upgrade and because of the messaging coming from command that people really need to think about what they are sharing, mostly because of what's been happening at the Met (police in London)."

GMP insist the crackdown had started long before revelations about 'The Dispensables' WhatsApp group. Some of the officers who used it have now left the force in disgrace.

Last month the M.E.N. reported PC Rebekah Kelly was dismissed without notice while PC Ashley Feest was told he would have been sacked had he not previously resigned and was barred from returning to police work.

A third police officer, PC Graham Atkinson, was handed a final written warning. All three cops were found to have committed gross misconduct.

Racist and homophobic language was used on the group chat which was said to be dominated by another officer, PC Aaron Jones, who left the force in disgrace last year.

PC Jones, who left the force in disgrace last year, was said to have dismissed troublemakers at Eid celebrations in Manchester's Curry Mile, in August 2018, as 'smelly P*** c***s' in a separate chat away from the group with PC Kelly, his girlfriend.

PC Kelly was said to have described those causing trouble as 'absolute d***heads the lot of them' during the exchange, although the disciplinary panel concluded this was not a racist comment.

PC Aaron Jones was banned from policing following a disciplinary hearing in December last year. Last month's disciplinary panel concluded PC Kelly failed to challenge her then boyfriend, now her husband, when he made the racist remark.

Jones was said to have messaged that he and his sergeant had 'nearly locked up' and his girlfriend Kelly, who was named 'Little Pea' on his device, replied: "Did you? They wouldn't leave it would they absolute d***heads the lot of them xxxx."

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Jones, GMP's portfolio holder for appropriate use of social media and instant messaging, told the M.E.N: "Whilst GMP, as a force, has not been using WhatsApp for policing purposes for several years, a recent update of phone software has removed the app from work devices - preventing use even for personal conversations.

"As we strive to ensure all employees are behaving in a way which does not damage public trust and confidence in policing, officers and staff are being reminded that the standards of professional behaviour apply both on and off duty and to the use of personal social media/instant messaging apps."

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