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30
Mar 2021
Harrogate police officers face social media restrictions
North Yorkshire Police is imposing restrictions on officers' social media accounts that will prevent them posting directly to the public.
The move will have implications for the popular Twitter accounts of Harrogate traffic sergeant Paul Cording and Harrogate traffic constable David Minto, who between them have more than 20,000 followers.
Their tales of life on the road include live traffic updates from accident scenes and details of motoring offences.
But soon they will be unable to post directly to Twitter under their police names.
North Yorkshire Police is centralising its approach to social media by encouraging people to follow its official accounts, rather than those of individual officers.
Officers can still post under their names provided their messages go through official channels first.
https://twitter.com/OscarRomeo1268/status/1373724715878088708
https://twitter.com/TC174_NYP/status/1372328691338985474
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson told the Stray Ferret:
Sgt Cording told the Stray Ferret he was aware changes are coming but at this stage it was inappropriate for him to comment.
In an interview with the Stray Ferret last year, he said there were “some issues” within the force when he started tweeting in 2011 but increasingly the police had recognised the value of officers engaging directly with the public and showing a bit of personality.
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