Philippine police unfriends recruits over Facebook photos

Feb 24, 2011, 8:43 GMT

Manila - Three new recruits of the Philippine police were facing dismissal even before they enter the force for allegedly posting a lewd photo on social networking website Facebook, a police commander said Thursday.

The three recruits had been pulled out of training and were under investigation for dismissal for unbecoming conduct, according to Chief Superintendent Cipriano Querol.

The offending photo showed the three would-be lawmen, one of whom had pulled down his police sports shorts to expose himself to the camera, said Querol, a regional police commander

'We don't need policemen like them,' he said. 'What they did was conduct unbecoming of an officer.'

Police found out about the picture after it received negative comments from other Facebook users, including serving police officers.

Querol said the photo had already been removed from the social networking site, but the regional police office was able to get a copy for use in the dismissal investigation.