BACK IN JANUARY a Facebook user targeted the PSNI’s Newry and Mourne branch, insulting the officer on social media duty.
The man called the officer a “fat shite” and told him to “do yer knees in”.
Using slightly more decorum and correct grammar, the officer told the man he “didn’t understand a word” he was saying but was sure he was making “an invaluable contribution”.
The police officer told the user the PSNI would “be in touch”.
True to his word, a uniformed officer arrived at the man’s house this week with a ‘Discretionary Disposal’ for sending “a malicious communication”.
The disposal is not a conviction but will stay on the man’s police record for a period of time.
“Some folk suggested we were all talk and couldn’t catch a cold, well hey ho we are all entitled to our opinion,” the PSNI said in a statement (on its Facebook page, of course).“The internet & social media is a big place but generally it’s very difficult to hide,” the status concluded.
The officers who have been running the PSNI’s Newry and Mourne Facebook for the last two years said they have only ever had to ban one user, adding that most people engage debate and send them “constructive feedback”.
We have only ever blocked 1 person and once received a picture of a wee parcel of Semtex. It’s all in a day’s work and we are generally thick skinned.
They warned anyone thinking of posting an abusive comment on social media that “it NEVER goes away”.
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