Social Media Community Guidelines

At Essex Police, we want our social media channels to be safe, respectful spaces for everyone in our communities across Essex.

Our goal is to create an online environment where people feel comfortable asking questions, sharing ideas, and taking part in conversations.

To help us do this, we ask anyone using our social media to:

• Be kind, polite and respectful
• Avoid offensive or harmful language
• Treat others as you would like to be treated

These guidelines apply to all comments, messages and interactions on any of our social media platforms. By engaging with Essex Police online, you agree to follow them.

Together, we can keep our online communities across Essex safe, supportive and welcoming for all.

Comments must not:

• Include spam, misleading or false information.
• Be offensive, abusive, threatening or hateful.
• Contain obscene or sexually explicit content.
• Promote violence or illegal activity.
• Discriminate against anyone based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• Break the rules of the social media platform.
• Be off-topic or irrelevant.
• Advertise or promote products or services.
• Risk affecting ongoing criminal investigations.

What we may do:

• Hide or delete comments that break these rules.
• Block users who repeatedly ignore the guidelines.
• Keep a copy of comments if needed for investigation or legal reasons.

Our social media accounts are not monitored 24/7, and messages or comments sent to us may not be seen or passed to the right team.

Please do not use social media to report crimes or incidents.

• If a crime is happening now or someone is in danger, call 999 immediately.
• For non-emergencies, you can report online or call 101.
  You can also report anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

Using the correct reporting channels helps make sure your information is handled quickly and by the right people.

If you have a complaint, please go to our complaints page and complete the online form. This process will ensure your complaint goes to the right team and is appropriately dealt with.

Images are subject to Essex Police copyright and must not be used without permission from Essex Police.