Think twice before you post online. That's the message to the city's police officers in the wake of two recent internet scandals. But the force says it is not, yet, monitoring officers' blogs and Facebook pages.
New guidelines on officers' use of the internet outside work are expected to be published before the end of the year, but police chiefs say self-discipline is needed now - and warned of the prospect of disciplinary action if online postings damage the force's reputation.
'Up to now we are trying to heighten officers' awareness about the use of social media,' Paul Hung Hak-wai, the force's director of operations, said yesterday. 'We hope they will [show] self-discipline.'
Officers are allowed to reveal their occupation online, Hung told a radio interviewer, but should ensure that anything they post on the internet does not damage the image of the police force.
'If their behaviour or conduct causes harm to the force's reputation, or if it runs against the police's core virtues or commands, they are liable to disciplinary action.'
The identities of witnesses or evidence in a court case should not be revealed before legal proceedings are concluded, he said. Pictures showing officers in uniform 'which do not convey a positive message' must also be avoided.