Fullerton Police Department

Fullerton Police Department-Policy 347-Social Media Relations

http://www.fullertonpd.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=22927

347.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE

This policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use by the Fullerton Police Department of social media sites (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter) as a means of conveying information to Fullerton’s citizens and residents. The intended purpose behind establishing Fullerton Police Department (“FPD”) social media sites is to disseminate information from the FPD, about matters concerning law enforcement and public safety, to Fullerton’s citizens and residents. The Fullerton Police Department has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is “spoken” on behalf of the Fullerton Police Department on social media sites. For purposes of this policy, “social media” is understood to be created by individuals, using accessible, expandable, and upgradable publishing technologies, through and on the Internet. For purposes of this policy, “comments” include information, articles, pictures, videos or any other form of communicative content posted on a Fullerton Police Department social media site.

347.2 RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. The establishment and use of Fullerton Police Department social media sites are subject to approval by the Chief of Police or his/her designees. All Fullerton Police Department social media sites shall be administered by Community Services Supervisor-Press Information Office.

2. Fullerton Police Department social media sites should make clear that they are maintained by the Fullerton Police Department.

3. Wherever possible, Fullerton Police Department social media sites should link back to the official Fullerton Police Department/City of Fullerton website for forms, documents, online services and other information necessary to conduct business with the Fullerton Police Department.

4. The Public Information Coordinator will monitor content on Fullerton Police Department social media sites to ensure adherence to both the FPD’s Social Media Policy and the interest and goals of the Fullerton Police Department.

5. FPD reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this Social Media Policy or any applicable law. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the Public Information Coordinator for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available.

6. These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.

7. The Fullerton Police Department will approach the use of social media tools as consistently as possible, enterprise wide.

8. The Fullerton Police Department’s website at http://www.fullertonpd.org will remain the FPD’s primary and predominant internet presence.

9. All Fullerton Police Department social media sites shall adhere to applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies.

10. FPD social media sites are subject to the California Public Records Act. Any content maintained in a social media format that is related to FPD business, including a list of subscribers, posted communication, and communication submitted for posting, may be a public record subject to public disclosure.

11. Employees representing the Fullerton Police Department via social media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the FPD and in accordance with all human resources policies.

12. This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time.

13. Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of the Fullerton Police Department may be removed.

14. FPD does not endorse any links or advertisements that may show up on this page.

347.2.1 COMMENT POLICY:

By posting or commenting on Fullerton Police Department page, or other FPD social media, you agree to the terms of use of the FPD’s social media comment policy as provided herein.

1. As a public entity the Fullerton Police Department must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.

2. The FPD page is intended to be “family friendly,” so please keep your comments clean by following these simple rules. In addition to keeping it family friendly, we require that you follow our posting guidelines here. Please note that we utilize Facebook’s automatic content filtering feature. All Fullerton Police Department social media content is subject to monitoring.

3. Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted on Fullerton Police Department social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the Public Information Coordinator or his/her designees:

(a) Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments;
(b) Profane, obscene, or pornographic content and/or language;
(c) Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin;
(d) Defamatory or personal attacks;
(e) Threats to any person or organization;
(f) Comments in support of, or in opposition to, any political campaigns or ballot measures;
(g) Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
(h) Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
(i) Encouragement of illegal activity;
(j) Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
(k) Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party;
(l) Harassment or content which constitutes and/or facilitates stalking;
(m) Content which violates the right to privacy;
(n) Encouragement of violence;
(o) Repetitive content;
(p) Comments which may reasonably interfere with, inhibit, or compromise law enforcement investigations, police tactics, police responses to incidents and/or the safety of police staff and officers. (q) Posts or comments that contain any external links.

4. A comment posted by a member of the public on any Fullerton Police Department social media site is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the Fullerton Police Department, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Fullerton Police Department.

5. The Fullerton Police Department reserves the right to deny access to Fullerton Police Department social media sites for any individual, who violates the Fullerton Police Department’s Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.

6. Comments posted to this page will be monitored and inappropriate content as defined above will be removed as soon as possible and without prior notice. Please note, comments posted to this page are monitored and our social media settings will automatically hide a comment if profanity is used within the post.

7. If you need to contact the Fullerton Police Department, please call our front desk, or if it is an emergency then call 911 and ask for assistance. While comments posted on the FPD social media page are monitored, posting a comment is neither the recommended nor best way to contact the Fullerton Police Department.

8. When a Fullerton Police Department employee responds to a comment, in his/her capacity as a Fullerton Police Department employee, the employee’s name and title should be made available, and the employee shall not share personal information about himself or herself, or other FPD or City employees.

9. All comments posted to any Fullerton Police Department social media site are bound by community standards such as those located at http://www.facebook.com/communitystandards, and the Fullerton Police Department reserves the right to report any violation.

10. By posting or commenting on Fullerton Police Department social media platforms you agree to our terms of use. You participate by your own choice, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username and any information you provide therein. Additional information may be located at www.fullertonpd.org or www.cityoffullerton.com.