Merseyside Police officials were forced to apologise for the “inappropriate use” of its Twitter account on Sunday night, after tweets were published making ‘joke’ references to rape.
An investigation is underway after Merseyside Police responded to a Twitter user who had referenced Everton’s 6-2 Premier League defeat of Sunderland in the city earlier in the day.
He sent a tweet to Merseyside Police, saying: “Hello. I’d like to report an incident of rape that occurred at Goodison Park, Liverpool on November 1st at 3:00.”
Soon afterwards, the police account replied: “Just confirm there was no actual rape for me? Sunderland certainly got caught with their pants down though.”
Another account then made a reference to Chelsea getting “raped every match”, to which the police account responded: “It’s not a criminal offence to lose week in week out.”
Both police posts have since been deleted.
In a statement on Sunday evening, Merseyside Police said: “We would like to apologise for any offence caused by inappropriate tweets from the force account this afternoon.
“They do not reflect the strenuous efforts made by Merseyside Police to investigate serious sexual crimes and protect victims.
“A full investigation has been launched into the inappropriate use of the Merseyside Police Twitter account.”
Many Twitter users condemned the tweets and Merseyside Police Commissioner Jane Kennedy said she welcomed the investigation into the matter, admitting it was “not appropriate from official force account”.