Greater Manchester Police cracks down on officers using WhatsApp

Police bosses are cracking down on cops using WhatsApp.

Last month GMP carried out a software update which removed the 'personal side' of police issue phones, so officers can no longer download apps such as WhatsApp as they had done previously.

The move comes on top of a string of internal messages from bosses to rank-and-file cops, warning them about sharing inappropriate content via social media even while off duty, the M.EN. can reveal.

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Details of the crackdown have emerged following disciplinary action taken against officers based in north Manchester behind a 'racist' WhatsApp group, although GMP insist the crackdown had started long before its investigation into that group.

Insiders say police WhatsApp use has 'dropped off a cliff' since the M.E.N. reported on the group, titled 'The Dispensables' and subtitled 'the gods of north Manchester who risk their lives every day to f*** jobs off'.

One experienced officer said: "Even though they weren't supposed to, shifts were using WhatsApp on jobs, for instance missing people or suspects they were trying to find because it was just way quicker to share pictures that way than using our own technology. Cops tend to find a way and that was it."

Another said cops all over Greater Manchester who didn't have their own private phone were getting one, as they had been using their police devices for personal reasons.

He said: "WhatsApp is still being used, but only on personal devices now because of the upgrade and because of the messaging coming from command that people really need to think about what they are sharing, mostly because of what's been happening at the Met (police in London)."

GMP insist the