Thames Valley Police has spoken to a Witney-based officer after a viral video showed a furious homeowner accusing him of ‘littering’.
The video footage shows a man confronting the officer for throwing his sandwich crusts out of a patrol car parked on the street.
It has been reported by nationals that the incident was in West Oxfordshire.
Warning: The embedded video includes indecent language
Member of the public challenges police officer for pulling up outside his home & littering.
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) October 4, 2023
While the UK police are busy at PRIDE events & arresting people for ‘Wrong-think’ & ‘Wrong-speak’ crime continues to exponentially increase everywhere.
Is it any wonder - if I were a… pic.twitter.com/poccOT2XB9
A statement from Thames Valley Police said the officer had been spoken to following the incident.
The force reposted the statement after temporarily removing it from social media platform X on Thursday morning.
“The officer involved has been given a chance to reflect on their actions and learn from them,” the force said.
It added that it would be asking its independent scrutiny group, which is made up of members of the public, if they have any further recommendations.
In the three-minute video, which has been viewed almost 100,000 times on TikTok, a man approaches the officer on the street and asks, “have you got an excuse why you pull up outside my house and throw rubbish out your car?”
The flustered officer responds it’s “just a sandwich crust.”
The man continues to confront the officer, saying: “You think it’s ok to pull up outside someone’s house and chuck your lunch, or breakfast outside my house.
“That’s acceptable, is it?”
The man refuses to stop filming until the officer picks up the crust and is at one point told to stop shouting by another police officer who was at the scene.
The video is laden with expletives from the householder accusing the officer of littering.
After a few minutes, the officer picks up the crust and gets back in the police car.
Thames Valley Police has been contacted for further comment and for an exact location of where the video was filmed by the Oxford Mail.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "We are aware of a video being widely shared on social media involving one of our officers.
"The video has been reviewed internally and we have spoken to the officer involved.
"We have also been to discuss the encounter and the officer’s actions with the individual who recorded the video.
“We strive to learn from our encounters with the public so the officer involved has been given a chance to reflect on their actions and learn from them.
“We will also be asking our independent scrutiny group, which is made up of members of the public, if they have any further recommendations for us.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article