Northern Ireland’s chief constable has expressed concern at the number of applicants failing vetting because of social media usage.
Jon Boutcher was speaking amid a significant Police Service of Northern Ireland recruitment campaign which started in January.
The chief constable has expressed concern at the current officer number of 6,300, saying he has 4,500 “deployable” officers, once sickness absence and duty restrictions are taken into account, and wants to see numbers rise to 7,000.
Outreach events have been held across Northern Ireland to reach potential officers.
But Mr Boutcher warned those who aspired to become a police officer to be careful about what they posted and what posts they “liked” on social media.
He told a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday that even “liking” a post could be flagged during the vetting process.
“I have been concerned about the numbers that we have selected but are then failing the vetting, a lot is to do with social media activity of young people,” he told the board.
“As politicians, as independents on this board with the responsibilities that you’ve got, you’ll be alive to social media and the scrutiny that that has.
“So all I’d say to people thinking of policing is just please be alive to what you’re doing on social media.”
Pressed further, Mr Boutcher said: “I think it is even ‘liking’ stuff that wouldn’t go with the values of the organisation, that wouldn’t sit comfortably with us, which just creates a reason for us to pause – is this someone we want in this organisation, if they’ve got prejudices etc.
“Social media is so scrutinised and I think even if you scrape things off, there are people who can find it and those people probably work for us, so it’s just to have a responsibility around what you’re putting on your social media accounts. Just be kinder to each other.”
Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: “Regrettably, it’ll be racism, misogyny, anti-police sentiment typically, are the things that would be most problematic and for obvious reasons.
“The message really from today would be for everybody to think about what they post and what they like because in particular, if you have aspirations for a future career in policing, it is definitely something that is going to be looked at.”
Meanwhile, Mr Boutcher also revealed there had been 3,100 applications so far.
He said that as of the beginning of this week, there had been 38.1% female, 28% those from a Catholic background, 4.5% from minority ethnic communities, 8.9% who are LGBT+ and 59% from a Protestant background.
Policing Board chair Mukesh Sharma said the numbers “seem to be reasonably healthy”, but that “there are still imbalances in the statistics”.
