Sussex Police Force have come under fire for showing off their pride adorned car on Twitter. An inspector tweeted, “Picked up our #pride car all ready to support @EastbournePride and @HastingsPride as part of pride season”, to which many locals responded angrily.
Despite the good intentions, some tweeters have argued it’s a waste of the tax payer’s money…
Waste of taxpayers money.
— shafted brexit voter (@blazeO213) June 23, 2017
…Some just didn’t see the point in it…
What is the actual point in that!? Laughable and expensive
— Peter (@elpedrosalvador) June 23, 2017
…And many were puzzled as to how they could afford it with so many budget cuts…
Moan about budget cuts then do this?
— Alex Hardwick (@redketchup80) June 23, 2017
…Others simply questioned whether or not it’s the police’s job to promote such causes:
It is not the job of the Police to promote any gender, race, creed or religion. You’re there to protect and prevent crime. Unbelieveable
— Clive Norman (@Clive752) June 23, 2017
Amongst the barrage of criticism though, one woman pointed out that it was an important statement:
um no,it’s to build bridges with minority communities to increase the likelihood of these people reporting crimes to police, i.e hate crimes
— Loz (@LEDx123x) June 22, 2017
Other tweeters simply appreciated the car in all its bright beautiful glory:
Wow! Pretty!! https://t.co/JXEGCa5obZ
— NYP_LGBT (@NYP_LGBT) June 21, 2017
Sussex police did go to Twitter to defend themselves, claiming the cars cost £750 and came out of an assigned diversity budget.
Once Brighton, Hastings & Eastbourne pride events are over the cars will keep their rainbow wrapping.
