A police officer has apologised for a tweet about the Liverpool ECHO Arena car park fire which has been construed as a reference to the Hillsborough disaster.
Northumbria Police received complaints after Curtis Ritchie, a serving constable, posted a message saying: “Have they started blaming the police yet????”
The tweet was in response to a story about the devastating New Year’s Eve fire, which destroyed an estimated 1,400 cars.
Twitter users from Liverpool accused PC Ritchie of making a reference to the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 Liverpool fans died in 1989.
Following PC Ritchie’s remark about blaming police for the blaze, one person contacted Northumbria Police to express concern, claiming it was a “disparaging remark about Scousers”.
Another sent a message to the officer’s bosses in Berwick, Northumberland, saying: “Can you please ask pc Curtis Ritchie (8873) to elaborate on his recent comments to the people of Liverpool & particularly families of the 96 ?”
The force would not name the officer involved in the Twitter row but said he had apologised.
The officer concerned has now made his Twitter account private.
A police spokesman said: “Northumbria Police does not condone the comments made by one of its officers on Twitter, it is clearly unacceptable.
“The force expects all its officers to uphold the highest levels of professionalism.
“The officer involved has expressed regret for any offence and upset caused and he has received management advice regarding his actions.”
Echo Arena car park fire
The jury at the second Hillsborough inquests cleared fans of playing any role in the disaster, but found match commander David Duckenfield “responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence” due to a breach of his duty of care.
Police errors were also blamed in the way the unfolding disaster was handled.
