Police and porn

In the haste to make a scandal out of the police discovering pornography in their email system, something has been overlooked: namely that it's not illegal to look at porn. Sure, it's unwise (not to mention just damned rude) in the workplace, and is likely to get you into trouble with most employers, but unless said porn can be classified as objectionable (involving kids, animals, dead bodies, or extreme degradation), it's not against the law as such. Just a little fact, but one we should keep in mind before leaping to excoriate the police over this.

That said, some of the material apparently is objectionable, and it does raise troubling questions about the ability of the police to deal sensitively with the victims of sexual crime. But something else people seem to be forgetting is that porn or no porn, it would be the same people dealing with these crimes. The problem is with the culture; porn in the office computers is just the symptom. But I think the response to both the police rape inquiry and to this shows that the police leadership is committed to changing that culture. We just have to hope they succeed...