Met Commissioner responds to online trolling following new appointment

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has responded after the X post announcing the appointment of Commander Karen Findlay as the Assistant Chief Constable of BTP was targeted by trolls.

According the statement, the post received many personal sexist and homophobic comments.

In his statement, Rowley said: "I am angry. My colleagues are angry. It isn’t acceptable and it’s happening too often.

"The intensity of the racist, sexist, and homophobic abuse directed at police officers on social media is increasing alarmingly. At a time when we need to attract officers from under-represented parts of our communities this is hugely damaging.

"Just in recent weeks we’ve seen officers become the victim of social media pile-ons for being from Eastern Europe or for appearing to be Muslim. We don’t have to look back far to see really prominent examples from across the country of female officers having their appearance, their hairstyles, their clothing or their perceived sexuality become the subject of ridicule or personal cruelty."

Image by Kev from Pixabay