Twitter policy

This document sets out how HMICFRS uses Twitter, a popular micro-blogging service.

Content

The @HMICFRS Twitter account is managed by the HMICFRS Press Office on behalf of HMICFRS. If you follow this account, you can expect tweets covering information about HMICFRS and policing in England and Wales, and fire and rescue services in England, including news, publications, web content, consultations and speeches.

Confidentiality and security

HMICFRS does not have a remit to investigate or resolve individual complaints (these should be addressed to the relevant police force, fire and rescue service, or authority), and we cannot discuss complaints over Twitter.

If you see a tweet or other electronic message claiming to be from HMICFRS that you suspect may be fraudulent, please forward it by email to contacthmicfrs@hmicfrs.gov.uk.

Replies and Direct Messages

The HMICFRS Press Office welcomes feedback and ideas from our followers. We will read all @replies and ensure that any emerging themes or helpful suggestions are passed to the relevant people in HMICFRS. However, due to resource constraints the HMICFRS Press Office will not be able to reply individually to all the messages we receive via Twitter.

In general the HMICFRS Press Office prefers not to send or receive Direct Messages, to keep conversations open and public.

The HMICFRS Press Office is bound by the Civil Service Code, and cannot engage on issues of party politics.

If you need to contact HMICFRS for official correspondence visit our Contact us page.

Following

If you follow @HMICFRS, we will not automatically follow you back. This avoids us having to spend time dealing with spam accounts, and helps keep discussions open by limiting the use of Direct Messages.

@HMICFRS will follow organisations of relevance to HMICFRS and policing, and may follow individuals where appropriate. The HMICFRS Press Office reserves the right to unfollow accounts we believe are malicious or spam.

Our following a Twitter account does not imply endorsement of any kind by HMICFRS.

Retweeting

Retweeting will be used to highlight appropriate content that is relevant to the work of HMICFRS and our followers. A retweet does not imply our endorsement of the message, nor does it imply our endorsement of the individual or organisation the message originated from.

Availability

HMICFRS Press Office will generally update and monitor our Twitter account during office hours only, Monday to Friday.

Twitter may occasionally become unavailable. HMICFRS cannot accept responsibility for lack of service due to Twitter downtime.