In our tech-savvy, digitally connected world an opinion is easier to get around than ourselves. A quick post on X, for example, elicits likes and shares which means thoughts can move quicker than speeches.
The truth is the opposite, but like-minded bedfellows can easily slip into each other’s feeds to reenforce inaccurate perceptions. It’s an act that, accompanied by a photo, may make a few converts as well.
Take for example a user by the name of Chris Hobbs on X, who posted a photo of three officers on a break and doing a bit of light shopping. Also without a basket in sight, they’re lambasted as time-wasters.
The policing beat is long and arduous, and while a lot of casual intelligence gathering is done in this way, a pop into a shop isn’t a break in duties or the cycle of catching criminals. In fact, it makes a lot of us feel safer.
The occasional snap shows where police officers really are, and what they’re doing. Irregardless of opinions on policing, it proves officers are protecting our wellbeing outside and not always indoors typing away.