Shropshire police apologise for Twitter 'joke' about Taser and baton
A Shropshire police team has apologised for an "inappropriate and insensitive" social media post which jokingly referred to a Taser as a "shock 'n' flop gun".
On Tuesday a Twitter account attributed to the Shropshire Operational Patrol Unit shared a post which said: "Police equipment can often have quite boring names, so just for fun we've come up with some alternative names for a few bits of kit!
"If you've got your own suggestions, then comment below."
An attached image showed a picture of a Taser with the name "shock 'n' flop gun", a baton with the words "rhythm stick" and a battering ram with the words "wakey wakey".
It also referred to a police vest as a "tactical tuxedo", a pair of handcuffs as "crime bangles" and incapacitant spray as "liquid wasps".
The tweet led to a barrage of criticism from people questioning whether such content was appropriate, with several people citing the death of former footballer Dalian Atkinson.
Mr Atkinson died aged 48 around 90 minutes after being Tasered in a street in Trench, Telford, in August 2016.
The tweet has since been removed and today the account apologised for the post.
A new tweet signed by Superintendent Mo Lansdale said: "I’d like to apologise for a tweet issued by yesterday, it was inappropriate and insensitive.
"Whilst not intended to cause offence it lacked judgement and fell below the standards I expect of my officers. I am now dealing with this."