(A) Comments or posts made by the public to any social media page under the control of the city will be monitored and while they will not be removed based on their opinion or viewpoint, the city reserves the right to remove comments that include:
(1) Comments unrelated to the purpose and topical scope of the page;
(2) Obscenities;
(3) Personal identifying information or sensitive personal information;
(4) Incitement to imminent lawless action;
(5) Speech presenting a grave and imminent threat;
(6) Fighting words;
(7) True threats;
(8) Fraud;
(9) Defamation (libel/slander);
(10) Solicitations to commit, or speech integral to, criminal conduct;
(11) Information that could reasonably compromise public safety;
(12) Promotion or advertisement in favor of, or in opposition to political campaign or candidate;
(13) Apparent spam;
(14) Content posted by automatic software programs (i.e. “bots”);
(15) Information which may interfere or compromise current investigations, police tactics and the safety of police staff and officers; and
(16) Copyrighted material (if posted without the copyright holder’s consent).
(B) The city may take steps to remove a comment if it falls within one of the foregoing categories. The city hereby informs the public that by posting or commenting the user agrees to these terms of use. If a social media user’s comment is removed, the moderator will notify the user by social media messenger that the comment was removed and the reason for its removal. The user participates at his or her own risk, and recognizes that by posting on this page, the user is personally responsible for his or her comments and any information provided.
(C) The city disclaims liability for advertisements, videos, promoted content, or comments posted by visitors to this page. The responsibility for external content of comments rest solely with the organization or individuals providing them. Any inclusion or exclusion of content or comments does not imply endorsement or opposition by the city or any of its employees or officers.
(D) For Police Department and Fire Department social media pages: social media sites for Police and Fire agencies are not replacements for 911 emergency calling systems. For emergency calls, 911 should be utilized. Non-emergency calls for the Fire Department should be directed to 765-521-3910 and non-emergency calls to the Police Department should be directed to 765-529-4890.
(Ord. 3763, passed 12-19-16)