Almost 200 New South Wales police officers have been investigated over alleged breaches of the force’s social media policy since the start of 2019, while 10 officers remained under active investigation last month.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show breaches of the policy led to disciplinary actions against 66 officers over the same period, with these ranging in severity from counselling to suspension without pay. Four officers have resigned after being found to have breached the code.
Last year NSW police reviewed its social media guidelines for the first time since 2015, with the new version published at the start of 2022.
Among the documents seen by the Guardian are notes from senior officers working on the updated policy which include references to “significant issues around officers/employees being caught up in chat groups set up on social media and discussing colleagues”.
In the new guidelines, officers are warned that offensive comments made about colleagues could be considered cyberbullying, which could result in managerial intervention or criminal charges.
The policy says officers need to think about how they would explain a post to their mother and how they would feel if it was tendered in court or splashed on the front page of a newspaper.
Some officers have been also been reprimanded and faced “management action” for “accessing and playing games on social media for lengthy periods while on duty”.
More than 180 sworn officers had allegations of breaches made against them between January 2019 and March of this year. Of those, 69 allegations were sustained and 10 were under active investigation in March.
Of the sworn officers found to have breached the code, 24 were made to attend counselling, four resigned, two were suspended without pay, one was restricted from duties, and others were subjected to training and mentoring or received official warnings.
There were investigations into eight unsworn members over the same time – half of which were sustained. Three of the four were reprimanded and another resigned.
Examples of breaches by officers were detailed in the new policy including an officer who consented to be photographed with drunk people in an “inappropriate pose” on New Year’s Eve which was then circulated online, leading to formal management action.
In another example of what not to do, a photo of a “very intoxicated” police officer wearing a bikini was used in court by a defence lawyer to “damage” the credibility of the officer.
Police are strongly recommended not to identify themselves as members of the force on social media, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and dating apps like Bumble and Tinder, and told that if they are able to be identified as serving they are “no longer commenting in a private capacity”.
They are warned against commenting on or hinting at matters likely to be before the courts and told not to post any materials that could bring the force “into disrepute” or embarrass the agency.
Officers are also warned that they are “increasingly being filmed by the public during operational incidents” and posted on social media sites, leading to people seeking to identify officers “to target and harass”.
“Posting photographs of yourself, especially in uniform, or otherwise identifying yourself as a police employee on your personal social media sites, makes you very easy to find,” the guidelines say.
Officers are warned not to make public comments on politics or other government agencies.
The policy warns that the public affairs branch conducts regular social media searches on the names of some employees attending social media training and are often able to locate and identify the officers.
The force’s own social media accounts have grown in popularity over recent years, with more than 1.3 million Facebook followers, 200,000 on Twitter, nearly 300,000 on Instagram and 40,000 on the newly created TikTok account.
In a statement, a spokesperson for NSW police said social media was a vital public communication tool.
“These platforms give police the ability to deliver messages directly to the public,” the spokesperson said.
“It also provides an opportunity for police to create positive interactions with different community groups tailored specifically for those groups.
“This is particularly important with reaching young people who consume the vast majority of their media online.”
