Criticism of the Lancashire police escalates after police released personal information about missing woman Nicola Bulli.
The Lancashire Constabulary is “facing growing backlash for its handling of the case,” The Telegraph reported after it was revealed that Bully had been having problems with alcohol and menopause.
The Home Secretary approached the Lancashire Police for clarification, and a source told The Times that Swella Braverman was not “totally satisfied” with the reaction of the Lancashire forces to trying to dispel the rumours.
“Rough” strategy
A week after Bully first went missing, police said they thought she most likely fell into the River Wire. This theory was quickly taken apart by armchair detectives on social media, sparking incredible speculation around the investigation.
When officers reported earlier this week that the mother-of-two had been classified as missing due to “some serious drinking problems” linked to her “ongoing battle with menopause,” it sparked a wave of criticism.
Martin Underhill, a former police officer and former Dorset Police and Constabulary Commissioner, told The Guardian that Lancashire Police’s handling of the reports was “a car accident”.
He added that the “media strategy” of the security forces left a place that “TikTok detectives filled” and then threw “a grenade that no one foresaw.”
In the Daily Mail, Stephen Wright agreed that an “inept” force had created a “void” by “pushing the press away” and “carelessly” trying to fix it by posting details about Bully’s vulnerability, the force “only made things worse”. “.
The officers acted with “shocking naivety” in the way the information was released, Peter Blaxley, former undercover officer and star of the Channel 4 show. Huntingsaid Talk TV. And a dive specialist who assisted police in the hunt for Bully told Sky News that knowing she was “high risk” would “change our whole search.”
Joining the chorus of criticism was Dame Vera Baird, former Victims Commissioner for England and Wales, who told the BBC that the decision to go public with Bully’s struggles with menopause and alcohol was “most sexist”.
A rare note of support came from Nigel Green, a former journalist and expert on police-press relations. He told The Guardian that the security forces had to “act very, very carefully” and “on the question of when and how they will report that she is a vulnerable person, they will be damned if they do it, and damned if they do not will do.”
“Significant Distraction”
Power faces the prospect of two reviews. He contacted the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) in connection with the revelation that his officers were in contact with Bulli prior to her disappearance.
Officers visited her family home in Inskip on 10 January, 17 days before she disappeared. It was confirmed that it was a “social visit and no arrests were made”, according to the Manchester Evening News.
The IOPC said it was “evaluating the information available” to decide whether an investigation into police contacts with Bulli is required.
Intense public interest in the case led “amateur detectives to travel up to 80 miles” to investigate the disappearance, newspaper i said, while the Mirror reported that “frightened locals” hired security guards because vigilantes ” peeking through the windows of their houses. Houses.
Lancashire Police Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith said this hindered their investigation. The officers are “bombarded with false information, allegations and rumors” and the phenomenal interest is “significantly distracting,” she said at a press conference.
