Avon & Somerset Police 'snake' comment.

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

I think all this could be resolved if Matty puts a video on YouTube showing him wearing a snake hat and repeating to the camera "I'm a snnnaaake" like that other video that's been doing the rounds on social media.

 

[In the Net]

3 hours ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

The Police weren't calling Taylor a snake, they were joking that Gasheads were talking about 'a snake' in South Bristol.

 

 

That's how I interpreted it, and thought it was quite funny.  Sadly, I think that some people look for the chance to be offended at every opportunity these days.

[phantom]

I blame Lee Johnson

[BRISTOL86]

3 minutes ago, phantom said:

I blame Lee Johnson

Surely this is Bristol City's fault? Quick, somebody lodge a complaint!

[Natchfever]

Whether an insult or "bants" perhaps A&SP should focus its resources on crime prevention and detection and stop ******* about on social media..

[View from the Dolman]

2 minutes ago, Loon plage said:

Whether an insult or "bants" perhaps A&SP should focus its resources on crime prevention and detection and stop ******* about on social media..

What if this was done by a member of police staff in their own time?

[BobBobSuperBob]

3 minutes ago, View from the Dolman said:

What if this was done by a member of police staff in their own time?

On an official A&S account ?

Dont think so

[View from the Dolman]

3 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

On an official A&S account ?

Dont think so

Why? I could tweet from an official company account at 2 in the morning if I so desire. 

[Major Isewater]

I just find it drôle in the context of the story that Avon and Somerset Police would be ASP in initials .

 

 

[Natchfever]

17 minutes ago, View from the Dolman said:

Why? I could tweet from an official company account at 2 in the morning if I so desire. 

And create a PR gaffe possibly and potentially jeapordise your career?

I suspect this was officially endorsed. However you look at it, I don't think the police should be ******* about on social media. Whether this is plod or an external contractor it's their resource and their responsibility.

[bs3]

2 hours ago, Nibor said:

You're embarrassing yourself.  You don't need to be a special little easily offended flower.  Save the complaints for something actually worth complaining about - there is plenty.

I'm no flower or offended by this or your cheap shot at me.

I refer you to my comments also made by others who feel this episode as turned toxic and reported in the press that Matty T and his family have police protection for his own safety.

So in this environment calling Matt  a snake on social media is at best ill judged.

All I'm doing in defending our player from a barrage of abuse from all parts , if you find that embarrassing so be it.

[wheatus59]

13 hours ago, freezer said:

I apologise if this has already been covered.

I am somewhat gobsmacked that A&S Police feel that it is at all appropriate to label Mr Taylor as a 'snake' in their recent tweet. Their thinking behind it apparently, was to diffuse the situation regarding his transfer between the two clubs. Well, they got that very wrong didn't they. It has merely fuelled the angst and vitriolic comments from the blue few. No apology coming from plod, just a half hearted justification for it. Shocking. Bad job PC Dick Head. Better stay out of it if this is the best you can do.

Rant over.

 

Let it go guys , don't stoop to their petty levels .

[Redtucks]

15 minutes ago, bs3 said:

I'm no flower or offended by this or your cheap shot at me.

I refer you to my comments also made by others who feel this episode as turned toxic and reported in the press that Matty T and his family have police protection for his own safety.

So in this environment calling Matt  a snake on social media is at best ill judged.

All I'm doing in defending our player from a barrage of abuse from all parts , if you find that embarrassing so be it.

So have you made an official complaint to the police?

 

[reddoh]

1 hour ago, Septic Peg said:

It was tongue in cheek. No one kicked off when @FirstBSA on twitter posted 'Spotted Matty Taylor has bought a single from Filton Ave to Ashton Gate on the 71'.

No one said perhaps First should have directed their efforts into ensuring their buses run to time. 

@Septic Peg,you have more chance of pigs flying

[Red white and red]

Unfortunately, this thread is littered with the same people who moan when they see police go into a supermarket to get a sandwich....

[Natchfever]

2 minutes ago, Red white and red said:

Unfortunately, this thread is littered with the same people who moan when they see police go into a supermarket to get a sandwich....

I haven't seen that thread to be fair.

[i_am_red]

Difficult one to be honest, I was quite surprised when I seen the tweet but I did think it was quite funny.

Unfortunately its a fine line with the police, try and stay professional and you are seen as faceless and hostile.  Try and engage with the community and it can be quite easily be seen to be unprofessional.

With regards to this tweet I believe it was from Catch officers who are just one department/team.  The main ASP twitter handle is controlled by a social media/communications team, plenty of teams have their own social media to try and engage with the public.  I personally think its a good thing and nice to see our officers trying to engage with the community, although on this occasion may have been best to stay out of it.

As a side note, I always wondered what Catch officers did whilst response were rushing around....now I know 

[Mr Popodopolous]

Maybe they should get words of advice or something.

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, Loon plage said:

Whether an insult or "bants" perhaps A&SP should focus its resources on crime prevention and detection and stop ******* about on social media..

As I said above, A&SP has a communications team - part of their remit is communicating externally using social media. This tweet, which has upset so many people, wasn't stopping them prevent crime, the comms tam don't fight crime on the streets. They communicate with the outside world. And the police shouldn't stop using social media, it has been invaluable in helping them to trace missing persons for example.

One harmless, slightly humorous tweet isn't the police '******* about on social media' - they were just trying to light-heartedly engage with football fans from both sides on an issue of interest to around 3% of Bristolians...

[JulieH]

The tweet from Avon and Somerset police Catch account was sent early in the afternoon when news was just breaking regarding the transfer of Matthew Taylor to Bristol City from Bristol Rovers. In hindsight and as the day progressed it was clear that the tweet had caused offence to some and that the tongue in cheek response we hoped to get was not happening with everyone. The police  were able to offer advice to Bristol City football club with regards to Taylors security over the next couple of weeks and we continue to monitor and work closely with both football clubs to ensure that we can all get back to normality as soon as possible. Avon and Somerset Police meant no offence by the tweet.

 

FYI the police are not protecting Matty Taylor nor his family. We have advised him regarding safety measures to take in conjunction with BCFC. There has been no complaints received from him, and no complaints received regarding the original tweet.

 

 

[Natchfever]

30 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

As I said above, A&SP has a communications team - part of their remit is communicating externally using social media. This tweet, which has upset so many people, wasn't stopping them prevent crime, the comms tam don't fight crime on the streets. They communicate with the outside world. And the police shouldn't stop using social media, it has been invaluable in helping them to trace missing persons for example.

One harmless, slightly humorous tweet isn't the police '******* about on social media' - they were just trying to light-heartedly engage with football fans from both sides on an issue of interest to around 3% of Bristolians...

Well perhaps they should stick to using social media for their core activities.

I would suggest it is of interest to rather more than 3% of the greater Bristol population although only a small percentage appear offended by the remarks. Those comments are immaterial to me, my "issue" is why they are ******* around (in this instance) on social media on matters that have no relevance to why they are there..

What next light hearted tweets about Donald Trump, Brexit, etc etc ? - None of their ******* business as an entity.

Anyway, some think it's fine, and the police should engage in banter on social media. Some consider their involvement ill advised and a waste of publicly funded time.

Agree to disagree and all that.

[BRISTOL86]

7 minutes ago, JulieH said:

The tweet from Avon and Somerset police Catch account was sent early in the afternoon when news was just breaking regarding the transfer of Matthew Taylor to Bristol City from Bristol Rovers. In hindsight and as the day progressed it was clear that the tweet had caused offence to some and that the tongue in cheek response we hoped to get was not happening with everyone. The police  were able to offer advice to Bristol City football club with regards to Taylors security over the next couple of weeks and we continue to monitor and work closely with both football clubs to ensure that we can all get back to normality as soon as possible. Avon and Somerset Police meant no offence by the tweet.

 

FYI the police are not protecting Matty Taylor nor his family. We have advised him regarding safety measures to take in conjunction with BCFC. There has been no complaints received from him, and no complaints received regarding the original tweet.

 

 

Thanks, now stop wasting police time and get back to catching criminals  

I've heard that a local football club has just been bent over backwards and robbed in plain sight by a mischievous neighbour. 

[JulieH]

Today is an admin day!

Someone else is catching criminals today!

[Red-Robbo]

5 minutes ago, JulieH said:

The tweet from Avon and Somerset police Catch account was sent early in the afternoon when news was just breaking regarding the transfer of Matthew Taylor to Bristol City from Bristol Rovers. In hindsight and as the day progressed it was clear that the tweet had caused offence to some and that the tongue in cheek response we hoped to get was not happening with everyone. The police  were able to offer advice to Bristol City football club with regards to Taylors security over the next couple of weeks and we continue to monitor and work closely with both football clubs to ensure that we can all get back to normality as soon as possible. Avon and Somerset Police meant no offence by the tweet.

 

FYI the police are not protecting Matty Taylor nor his family. We have advised him regarding safety measures to take in conjunction with BCFC. There has been no complaints received from him, and no complaints received regarding the original tweet.

 

 

Fair enough Julie. Time for all to move on and let this thread fall away. I'm sure a quiet word will be had with whoever was behind the tweet. You never want to make news for the wrong reasons.

Anyway, onto real life crime, I understand a 38-year-old man was spotted in the vicinity of Points West studios making patently false criminal accusations. Get your lads and lasses on the case. 

[LondonBristolian]

4 hours ago, bs3 said:

Precisely, they are helping create an atmosphere of hatred towards Matty Taylor by using such inflammatory language.

Also the person who said I'm wasting my time on this thread, well it's my time, it's my day off today , I don't post in my works time unlike the Police posting in an official police twitter account in police time .

So next time your waiting 4 hours for the police to turn up to an incident part of the reason that they may be dicking about on Facebook.

Realistically they won't though will they? Even if they did it at work - which is perfectly reasonable as it is a work account - whoever is asked to do the account for the day will be someone on desk responsibilities, not someone who is rushing out to respond to incidents.

FWIW I think it's a good thing if the police use social media to build better relationships with the community and show they have a sense of humour. I can get why people think it was misjudged but, as others have said, they were not calling Matty Taylor a snake - just commenting on how people responded. I'm not saying it is the best joke in the world but am saying this thread is a heck of an overreaction. 

[REDOXO]

8 hours ago, Robert the bruce said:

Bless them-maybe they should work harder to ensure the intelligence that they act upon is correct,rather than piss around on 'Twitter'..

Are we allowed now to refer to A&S police as snakes??

Really!

4 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

A&S Police has a Communications team whose job it is to impart external messaging on behalf of the service using various media including Twitter. Some people on here seem to think a bobby on the beat has taken it upon himself to waste the time he could spend fighting crime by 'pissing about on Twitter.'

However you viewed the tweet, it was someone doing their job, not someone doing something that isn't part of their job.

It's a bit like telling a military chef to stop cooking food for the troops and get out and fight....

I thought the police statement/tweet was a bit of fun and showed them in a good light wanting to join in the banter on a day when something significant happened involving the City's two football clubs with which they work.

I can see why people think it was ill-judged but I chuckled at it and thought it was good to see the police engage with the public in a harmless, light-hearted manner on a subject that is hugely irrelevant to the vast majority of Bristolians...

 

22 minutes ago, JulieH said:

Today is an admin day!

Someone else is catching criminals today!

Thanks for your service Julie. I thought it was funny. 

Robert The Bruce not so much. As above

I can not even imagine the admin that goes into nicking bad guys!....I hear Mark Ashton may be involved in thieving a center forward from N Bristol on Tuesday. Should I call tip line or do you have it covered?

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, Loon plage said:

Well perhaps they should stick to using social media for their core activities.

I would suggest it is of interest to rather more than 3% of the greater Bristol population although only a small percentage appear offended by the remarks. Those comments are immaterial to me, my "issue" is why they are ******* around (in this instance) on social media on matters that have no relevance to why they are there..

What next light hearted tweets about Donald Trump, Brexit, etc etc ? - None of their ******* business as an entity.

Anyway, some think it's fine, and the police should engage in banter on social media. Some consider their involvement ill advised and a waste of publicly funded time.

Agree to disagree and all that.

Fair play - I was basing the 3% figure on the percentage of Bristolians who regularly attend City and Rovers home matches, depending on which total population figure you believe to be accurate.

[JulieH]

All I can say is thank god the transfer window is closed.

as in any job paperwork needs to be done, I tend to save mine up and do it all at once, hence paperwork day!

[Vincent Vega]

1 minute ago, JulieH said:

All I can say is thank god the transfer window is closed.

as in any job paperwork needs to be done, I tend to save mine up and do it all at once, hence paperwork day!

Pretty much how I do my accounts. 

[freezer]

7 hours ago, handsofclay said:

Although I can see that the police were trying their hand at humouring the situation I believe it to be ill judged. Tempers have been frayed and we all know that idiots exist in the community who vent their fury through issuing threats that they sometimes enact. The police should not call a law abiding member of the community they are tasked with protecting such an inflammatory name, even if it is in jest. We all know that what one person finds funny another can take the wrong way and actually see it as official endorsement of their vitriol.

If, and I sincerely hope this never happens, Matty Taylor is ever the subject of an attack then it won't look too clever for the local force, tasked with protecting him, that they seemingly joined in with the abuse levelled at him.

It is fine for those who are saying that it was only a harmless bit of fun for they are not Matty Taylor. If you can honestly say that if you one day discovered that A&S Police had implied on social media that you were a snake and you could laugh it off then great. Myself, I would be infuriated that it had come from such a quarter and if I was already the target of abuse from sections of the community I would be expecting quite the opposite reaction from them and would seek redress.

Once again, I can see that their intention was to have a bit of fun and get a bit of Street credit, however, they are the police. It is not their job to do that. It was unprofessional. 

What he said.