Can police (Metropolitan police) use Skype and other social media?

[Daffodil72]

Or not? Just wondered.

[OverByYer]

Yes

[Northernsoullover]

My friends do. Very heavily disguised though. They tend to use middle names, maiden names and cartoon profile pics. They still have to toe the line while posting even with disguise!

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

Why wouldn’t they?

[Daffodil72]

So, they aren’t being put under pressure to stop using it?

[JaniceBattersby]

Our coppers are encouraged to use named Twitter accounts as marketing. It works. Every Tweet they do gets about 1,000 likes to the point of being a bit nauseating.

“Just having a donut” = 1,000 likes
Anything about a police dog = 10,000 likes and so on

[Daffodil72]

Just a friend I chat to reckons the Met have sent an email out telling them not to use it. I’d be interested to hear from someone in the Met to confirm.

[user1495884673]

Skype for business is being shut down in favour of teams. Is it something to do with that?

[Daffodil72]

No. They use WhatsApp as a work tool

[Daffodil72]

It’s Skype for personal use.

[dingoesatemybaby]

I think they can encourage employees not to use it for safety of officers and staff. and give our general online safety advice (not using full name. Max privacy etc) but I don't think they can stop them using it.

[AlwaysCheddar]

Do you mean zoom?

[VinterKvinna]

Skype is a messenger app?

[Daffodil72]

I just mean Skype for keeping in touch with people.

[ComplaintsComplaintsComplaints]

I've not seen any email like this. Not that I've used Skype for years.

[zzizzer]

Has a friend said they can't Skype you because work said not to?

I don't think they are allowed to use their work devices for personal stuff generally, but can't think how they'd monitor something else.

Unless someone has said Skype isn't secure etc.

[VinterKvinna]

Is this during work?

[DianaT1969]

Why don't the people who were speaking by Skype switch to something else? Facett, WhatsApp, Teams, Zoom? Skype isn't as widely used as it used to be.

[AlwaysCheddar]

Skype for business use is ending next month, so they won’t be able to use it. Microsoft switching over to Teams.

[Allington]

At one point many police forces did not allow their IT systems to access Zoom because of security concerns. Security has been tightened up, but the block is still in place with some forces - where staff phone into a Zoom meeting to get round it...

But that is work devices, not personal.

In many organisations Skype is being replaced by teams.