The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland ran a #AskChiefCon feed on Twitter which was a #Fail for #McGurks families.
The Chief Constable, George Hamilton, last night invited tweeters to ask him a question using the hashtag #AskChiefCon (see feed).
There was some serious questions and much mirth which fulfills the folksy, accessible PR outcomes of such ventures.
As always with the cops, though, the past proved time and time again to be a stickler for the Chief Constable even though I can imagine a team of marketers and lawyers hovering over his shoulder and Deputy Chief Con Drew Harris whispering in his lug-hole.
Although he ignored most of those questions, he did rise to a legacy question from @Shim_bop:
@Shim_bop would be irresponsible if not illegal to give material in legal processes & investigations but will if/when I can #AskChiefCon — George Hamilton (@ChiefConPSNI) December 7, 2015
Now that may have seemed a responsible answer as we are slap-bang in the middle of yet another court case against the Chief Constable due to the police’s continued cover-up of the McGurk’s Bar bombing.
Nevertheless, I was recently told in writing by the Chief Constable’s office that the McGurk’s Bar investigation is over, and neither excuse was used by the police a few days ago when it closed down each and every single one of my requests for information since the summer in one foul swoop.
@Shim_bop was obviously referring to this blanket refusal which you can read about here.
So I raised this with the Chief Constable:
Goodness @ChiefConPSNI, @PoliceServiceNI did not use those excuses when it shut down my requests. https://t.co/2swZVrrlbD GRMA @Shim_bop — Ciarán MacAirt (@ciaranmacairt) December 7, 2015
This was #IgnoredByChiefCon so it was left to @Shim_bop to tweet what many of us feel when reading these twee feeds:
@ciaranmacairt @ChiefConPSNI @PoliceServiceNI Easy 2 tweet sound bites 2 third party. But to be responsible would be to deal with the issue
— Shimbop (@Shim_bop) December 7, 2015
Now, when is Drew Harris hitting Twitter so we ask #AskTheGrinder.
