Camellia Badon
Police have been warned not to appear in promotional videos for local businesses after officers were filmed endorsing a vape store and a chicken shop.
One Instagram video shows a Met Police officer boasting about receiving discounts at a vape retailer in Leytonstone, East London.
In a second clip on TikTok, a West Midlands PC jokingly ‘arrests’ a chicken shop owner in Birmingham for refusing to reveal what makes his chicken ‘so addictive’.
Both videos sparked a string of angry comments, with social media users branding the officers’ behaviour ’embarrassing and unprofessional’.
Another asked how the police had time to appear in social media ads while taking ‘days’ to start investigating burglaries.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the videos ‘undermine police officers’ role as impartial’.
The first video, captioned ‘NGL [not going to lie] arrest me’, the vape store owner is seen interviewing a female PC inside his store.
He asks the ‘beautiful’ officer her name before she giggles and replies.
She describes her favourite vape flavour as ‘pineapple ice’ and says of his store: ‘It’s good, it’s nice, I get a nice little discount.’
The officer continues: ‘It’s a good shop, it’s always got customers. All of us here that work in the police, we’re always coming down here. We don’t go anywhere else.’
Her endorsement delights the owner, who offers her a ‘free slushy’ to ‘cool her down’.
The second video, promoting Sani’ Chicken in Birmingham, was posted in TikTok with the caption ‘police need a word’.
It shows a PC grinning while the owner sits in the back of her car after a joke ‘arrest’.
‘I don’t understand what they put in it to make it so good,’ the officer says.
‘Due to that, he’s coming in, because we need to find out what he puts in it to it so addictive.’
She then turns to the owner and asks: ‘What are you putting on your food?’
‘No comment,’ he replies.
TikTokers questioned why the officer thought it appropriate to appear in the video, with one calling it ‘totally out of order’.
It is unclear if the officer received a discount or any freebies for her participation.
Mr Philp told The Times: ‘Police officers in uniform and presumably on duty should not be promoting commercial businesses – especially not vape shops.
‘They should be catching criminals and keeping the public safe. This is a waste of police time and undermines their role as impartial law enforcers.
‘The vape shop video also appears frankly demeaning to the officer involved.’
A Met spokesman said: ‘We are aware of a video circulating online that involves a Met officer.
‘The video was reviewed by the Met’s directorate of professional standards and no misconduct was found.
‘However, the officer has been spoken to by way of reflective practice about the appropriateness of taking part in the video.’
West Midlands Police said: ‘We were made aware of the video in July and the officer was spoken to and given advice at the time.’
Figures released last week showed a spike in crimes such as shoplifting and drugs during Labour’s first year in power.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed retail crime spiked by 13 per cent in the 12 months to June, reaching 529,994 recorded offences.
Theft from the person rose by five per cent to 145,860 offences in England and Wales.
The number of sexual offences recorded by police jumped nine per cent to 211,225 offences, today’s ONS data showed.
It included a six per cent increase in reported rapes, to 72,804.
Although robbery of personal property was down 12 per cent, there was a sharp rise in the number of commercial premises being robbed.
This category was up a dramatic 55 per cent to 18,534 offences.
The ‘theft from the person’ category, which will include mobile phone snatches, was up five per cent to just under 146,000 offences.
It comes after the number of police officers in England and Wales fell by 1,300 to 146,400 in March, from an all-time high of 147,700 a year earlier.
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