A senior Hertfordshire police figure has deleted her Twitter account after attracting widespread criticism by retweeting an Adolf Hitler quote.

Dr Rachel Frosh, deputy police crime commissioner, removed her account from the microblogging site this morning after facing the wrath of fellow users with several calling for her resignation.

Dr Frosh initially retweeted a post on January 31 which said "Dear Socialists embrace your inner Nazism" and had a picture of Adolf Hilter with a quote from 1927 before deleting it.

However a screen shot of the tweet on her Twitter feed emerged on the social networking site this week prompting the deputy police commissioner to post an explanation distancing herself from its content.

Writing on her personal website this morning Dr Frosh, who is paid £20,000 for the two-day a week role, said she did not remember the retweet and did not endorse the meaning.

She said: "It is all too easy to push a button on a Twitter feed on your iPhone to retweet.

"I’ve retweeted loads of stuff, really to say "I’ve read this", not to say that there is any kind of endorsement.

"I’ve checked internet for what a retweet is considered as meaning - and there is no etiquette on this.

They are not considered endorsements in etiquette terms.

"It is therefore clear that without a clear set of rules/ twitter etiquette, it is best not to retweet anything.

"It’s a shame. But for now I’m removing my twitter. I might repost it for tweeting only (ie no retweets), but I need to consider this first."