In a world where more and more of individual and family life is both conducted and visible online, the ability and desire of officers and staff to balance their public facing roles with their family’s online privacy and security is increasingly challenging and will only become more so in the future.
Initial findings from ongoing academic research with UK forces would indicate that the scale and nature of online harms experienced by police personnel on social media is both misunderstood and under-reported. Abuse, insults, harassment, malicious identification, and direct threats are common experiences. In addition, the research identifies threats moving from online to officers’ physical spaces (and vice-versa). It further shows that challenges and harms extend to families, especially parents and children.
To better support staff and their families, forces could consider:
- Seeking to better understand and acknowledge the online challenges faced by their staff AND their families because of their role(s) in the police.
- Ensuring that effective processes are in place to report and assess online harm incidents experienced by police personnel and their families (when the incident is as a consequence of their role in the service) and these processes are available to both staff and families.
- Providing forms of training and guidance in relation to online privacy and security to family members as well as officers and staff.
- Assessing their wellbeing / support provision in relation to staff and families experiencing online harms.