Hertfordshire Police apologise for ‘offensive’ World Cup tweets
Hertfordshire Constabulary have been forced to apologise after a series of ‘offensive’ tweets stereotyping people from World Cup nations were issued by its official Twitter account.
Followers of @HertsPolice were bombarded by a series of public information tweets timed to coincide with various football matches – however the contents were tailored to match the perceived criminal tendencies of each state.
A Colombia match for instance was accompanied by a tweet warning of the drugs problem in South America, reading: “Illegal armed and other criminals are heavily involved in the drugs trade.”
Meanwhile a match played by Nigeria dovetailed with a tweet advising people to be wary of scam artists: “British nationals are increasingly being targeted by scam artists operating in West Africa. For information and advice on protecting yourself from ‘romance fraud’, please visit www.herts.police.uk/fraud.”
Naturally enough the tweets didn’t play well with local expats, with one Nigerian, Lola Dedoyin, tweeting: “What an offensive tweet from herts Police. They should be ashamed.”
In a statement a Hertfordshire Constabulary spokesman said: "We would like to apologise to anyone who has been offended by the tweets issued by Hertfordshire Constabulary linked to the World Cup.
"Our only aim was to give crime prevention advice about issues which may affect communities in Hertfordshire, having researched crime issues for the countries involved in the tournament.
"In order to prevent any further offence we have removed the posts."