To think my police complaint wasn't kept confidential?

[sowsomeseeds]

Name changed as v v outing.
A few months back I made a complaint against a Police Officer
PC was a friend of mine
They were making comments which made fun of people with disabilities on social media and I couldn’t do with the drama of confronting them directly.
Basically just jokes and memes etc on their social media.
Rightly or wrongly I filled in an online crime report form anonymously, with dates things had happened, which social media platforms etc.
I didn’t think they should be in a position of authority if they were happy to belittle the most vulnerable members of society.
Within 3 weeks the PC and 3 of their closest friends (who were mutual friends) have all deleted and blocked me on social media and refuse to talk to me.
Do you think that my details were given from the complaint (IP address maybe?) or could they tell it was me from my mobile phone.
I 100% made the complaint anonymously.
Have they just guessed or presumed it was me?
I’m worried that my details have been given even though I reported it anonymously and asked to stay anonymous and it is going to cause repercussions for me.

It’s not a shame re the pc. It’s a shame re the other 3 people that have blocked me, after we always got on well and were never involved with any of the comments.

You actually did something fairly brave - you stood up against it - albeit anonymously (you hoped!).

Countless others just stand by and let this crap happen.

It’s not a shame re the pc. It’s a shame re the other 3 people that have blocked me, after we always got on well and were never involved with any of the comments.

Try to look at it another way - it's revealed some things. It's not 'cost' you friends, it's helped you work out who are and are not your real friends.
Move on and make new friends.

Clearly the friends have made their choice and no longer wish to associate themselves with you.

Makes me wonder how bad these comments actually were.

The other possibility is that the policeman may have had very strict settings on his Facebook which limited who could see what.

It’s probably a coincidence.

Were those comments the worst of what he posted?

Those comments I posted weren’t exact comments.
They were just a lot of memes such as the ones you’ll find in google if you type in disability memes. Just taking the piss, which there is no need for.
And comments along the lines of there being more people with ADHD and learning difficulties in their “beat” than in normal society, and suggesting people were faking illnesses and their kids illnesses for benefits etc.
Mainly disability and benefit rants.
It’s hard to explain without being outing.

Police officer has an anonymous complaint made against them re their social media account. It will have been investigated and if the investigating person feels that there is merit to the complaint some form of sanction will have occurred and will have been permanently recorded on the officer's record.

The officer will have also been advised to tighten up their social media security settings. You simply didn't survive the friends cull. They no doubt told some close friends to do the same.

I don’t think your privacy has been compromised. I think your character is one who would (rightly) stand up against such behaviour and they have worked out it was you through a process of elimination.

@bastardkitty are you seriously suggesting the op make a further complaint against the friend? He hasn't done anything wrong by blocking her

I think you should step away from social media op

@bastardkitty was talking about making a complaint to the ICO re the breach of data protection and my details possibly being handed over to the PC.
Not a complaint that I had been blocked?

Either way, I’m hoping that you’re all right and my details weren’t passed on.
And it’s just dawned on me that even if they do know it was me, then surely they can’t go around telling people (although it looks like the 3 other friends have been told) as they shouldn’t have known my details anyway, and they would get themselves into trouble by doing this?

There is a sort of gallows humour that is very prevalent on the job. It helps officers to deal with actually doing the job. Mocking people with disabilities is abhorrent, but from what you’ve said, he hasn’t done that. He’s mocked his “customers” (for want if a better word!) which is obviously daft and unprofessional. If he’s guessed it’s you, he probably thinks you’re completely overreacting. He will have been spoken to and will probably be more careful about that he posts. He’s no loss to you as you clearly dislike him anyway.

The more I think about it the more I think my details have been found out and passed on

Absolutely NOTHING is 'anonymous' from authorities with regards the internet.
People need to wake up and do their own thinking and research instead of blindly accepting what their told.
The 'anonymous' part just refers to not forcing you to record your personal details on the form.
They can trace the IP address of the computer used to send the complaint, same with service provider.

Police officers are not always law abiding themselves....and they generally protect their own unless forced not to by other circumstances.
I think they deliberately traced your IP address, found it was registered to your address, traced the pathway to identify which one of you last/most accessed his facebook and sent the complaint.

Then they shared that info with him.
They don't care about rule breaking because they know you can't prove it plus they more than likely covered their tracks....and unless you make a further complaint re this and someone impartial investigates it you will never get proof.

Banks have access to trace your IP address too, as i found out when i complained about a fee being debited from my account that i knew nothing about.
They replied within 24 hours to say my IP address was used to send the info and therefore there was no proof of fraud

They don’t have to know. They can suspect it was you and tell their friends their suspicions.

You need to let this go. You can’t win.

I think they deliberately traced your IP address, found it was registered to your address, traced the pathway to identify which one of you last/most accessed his facebook and sent the complaint.

You're being ridiculous. Whilst this information is available to the police in certain situations, a front line plod would not be able to access it without creating an audit trail. That would open them up to criminal prosecution as well as dismissal. No one is going to go to that much hassle for something so trivial.

Absolutely NOTHING is 'anonymous' from authorities with regards the internet.

Sometimes 100% anonymity can be guaranteed if you know what you're doing.

OP if you're worried about outing I strongly suggest asking MNHQ to delete this thread. Just hit "report" on your first post.

Honestly... it sounds like s/he has worked out it was you, but I wouldn't necessarily think it was by nefarious means.

Could you maybe ask your DH to message one of the mutual friends and ask what's up?

The PC may have told them a load of bullshit like "sewsomeseeds tried to make a pass at me/my spouse"

Interesting that some pp think it is far worse for a PC who makes fun of people with disabilities on social media to be reported for doing so, than for them to make these jokes in the first place.

There's a lot of gallows humour in my job, too, but we aren't stupid enough to display it on social media. Or if we are, we know there will be consequences, as there should be.

Goodness me of course making fun of people isn’t a crime. I don’t think you understand what a hate crime is.
OP I’m going to be honest and say I feel like you have completely unrealistic ideas of police officers.

It seems more like YOU don't understand hate crime or police officers. I used to work for the police and still have a considerable number of current and former officers and staff as friends. Things like this are an absolute no-no and would call into question their suitability for the job, particularly as it seen as so important that the first week of training is spent on diversity and challenging preconceptions. With these attitudes as given by the OP, they cannot be as even-handed as the office of constable requires. A lot of swearing and black humour, yes, but racist/sexist/disablist/etc is never acceptable.

If they knew it was you I would suspect they would have blocked your husband also

An IP address isn't 'registered' to an address - it can change. The police would need specific logs from your ISP to determine who used that IP at a specific time and date - and even then it doesn't pinpoint an individual, just down to your router.

The police cannot do this without help from the ISP and a very specific reason to request this information. A complaint about social media is not a valid reason. It's the same situation of a police officer obtaining your home address from your Car Registration - once upon a time, they could have fairly easy access to that information IF they were dodgy, but not any more. Every search has to have a valid reason / be part of a specific investigation.

Seriously, they'll just have been warned not to be so stupid on social media - they'll have tightened their settings, and removed the likely complainants from their group.
Since they post these types of things, they WILL think you're being a pain and entirely unreasonable. They will think you are the bad person and risked their jobs - but in truth, they are the idiots, firstly for thinking as they do, and secondly for using social media to express such thoughts.

@TornFromTheInside this makes me feel better.
Thank you.
Obviously just a guess then that it was me 👍🏻
Not going to lose any more sleep over it. What’s done is done!

If what the PC did was perfectly fine than being reported for doing it won't bring them any trouble at all, because there was absolutely nothing wrong with what they did. So where's the issue with OP reporting them? The only way it could have a negative impact on the PC is if their actions were not OK... and in that case reporting them is very much the right thing to do.