Police defend use of meme format to report crime despite social media criticism

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Lancashire Police has defended its use of a meme format used on social media to report criminal activity, despite criticism online describing the tactic as “disgraceful”. The police account also responded to some replies by asking people to fill in a social media survey to find out “what you want and need from us through social media”. One social media user wrote: “Might be an unpopular opinion but I feel like the police fundamentally shouldn’t be posting memes like this regardless of what they’ve done.” Another said: “This sort of mocking, joking tweets is disgraceful. It condescends to and insults the victims of crime, is unseemly celebratory, and acts like policing is all one big jolly jape.” Meanwhile, another asked: “What kind of society do we live in when official police accounts are posting memes and trying to go viral?” A statement from Lancashire Police given to the PA news agency defended the account’s reporting tactics, however, confirming it would “continue to engage with people in this way”.