Federation condemns ITV comedy show for being 'offensive and distasteful'
An upcoming ITV1 ‘comedy’ series called ‘Piglets’ has been slammed as “offensive and distasteful” by serving police officers, with fears it could lead to an increase in abuse on “hard working cops”.
Nick Jones, the chair of Devon and Cornwall Police Federation, said he was “in disbelief” when he saw a TV trailer for the new series, which purports to follow six would-be officers in a fictional police training college.
He said: “I was gobsmacked when I heard the name of the show. To then find out that it’s meant to be a comedy and that it’s poking fun at the police uplift, I was in disbelief. It’s nothing short of offensive and distasteful.
“This disrespect is so degrading to our men and women out there every day risking their lives. We would expect better from ITV.
“This TV show could legitimise people using that term against officers and lead to even more abuse than we currently get. The producers might not recognise how much this undermines officers.”
He added: “Our colleagues out there working hard and keeping people safe are under relentless pressure at the moment. Officers are working incredibly hard, day in and day out, serving the public and doing the very best they can for our communities. This show pokes fun at our probationary constables when we already get relentless negativity from the press.
“We have a finite amount of resources dealing with exponential demand. We’ve had new recruits who have come in and said they had no idea officers were treated so badly on the streets, and how volatile it is, when they experience that exposure for the first time.
“The name of this show is a very unhelpful term and threatens to undermine a public sector that’s already under so much pressure.”
In its promotional release for the new series, ITV says: “The Government’s stated policy of recruiting 20,000 new police officers in double-quick time has not come at the cost of lowering standards. Or has it?
“‘Piglets’ follows a newly recruited group of six very different would-be cops and the handful of key staff whose thankless task it is to knock them into some kind of shape.”
The six-part series is due to air this month.
ITV has been approached for comment.