POLICE in Rugby have been criticised for joining in with social media jokes about an arsenal of weapons seized from a man amid concerns for his mental health.
The Rugby Police Facebook page posted an image of the weapons on Wednesday (April 10), with the caption: “Seized in Rugby after a male made threats towards officers following concerns for his mental health. Luckily no one was injured and the male is now receiving the help he needs.”
Amid much praise for the police’s handling of the incident were several comments joking about the antiquated appearance of the weapons.
Rugby Police, followed by over 4,500 people, responded to a comment suggesting the weapons belonged in fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, saying: “We will endeavour to get these there in time! We can’t have Jon Snow (a character from the show) going in to battle under equipped.”
The comment was removed on Thursday (April 11), minutes after The Observer raised the matter with Warwickshire Police’s press office.
Samantha Crawley saw the comment and branded it ‘a disgrace’.
Speaking to The Observer, the 40-year-old mum – who has experienced mental health problems – said: “I am glad they have taken some very dangerous weapons off of the streets, but I’m shocked and sickened at that vile comment degrading people with mental health problems.
“This is serious. Comments like that are just making a joke of it. These are people’s lives.”
Samantha said she used to be embarrassed about her mental health, but now thinks more people need to speak out to stop vilification and stigma.
“The police are the people we’re supposed to call when we need help,” she said.
“If I ever tried to hurt myself again, as I have done in the past, there’s one number I won’t be calling because they’re going to laugh and joke about it behind my back.”
Warwickshire Police declined to comment on the Facebook post.
