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G.O. 40 LONGWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT GENERAL ORDER NUMBER: GO – 40 SUBJECT: SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVE: JUNE 1, 2023 REVISED: JULY 1, 2024 GENERAL ORDER SOCIAL MEDIA GO – 40 Page 1 of 5 I. PURPOSE: The Longwood Police Department endorses the secure use of social media to enhance communication, collaboration, and information exchange; streamline processes; and foster productivity. This policy establishes the department’s position on the utility and management of social media and provides guidance on its management, administration and oversight. Further, this policy outlines the expected conduct of all Department employees and volunteers (hereinafter referred to as department or agency members), whether on or off duty. This policy is not meant to address one particular form of social media rather social media in general, as advances in technology will occur and new media platforms will emerge. II. DEFINITIONS: A. Page: The specific portion of a social media website where content is displayed and managed by an individual or individuals with administrator rights. B. Post: Content an individual shares on a social media site or the act of publishing content on a site. C. Profile: Information that a user provides about an individual (personally or of another), a group, an entity, or an organization on a social network. D. Social Media: GENERAL ORDER SOCIAL MEDIA GO – 40 Page 2 of 5 Social media is defined as information sharing technologies, which provide users with the ability to communicate, collaborate, and share multimedia. Social media can include social networks, micro-blogging sites, personal web pages, forums, podcasts, wikis and video sharing sites, or information sharing within a defined network. Examples include, but are not limited to, Google and Yahoo Groups, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), Snapchat, and TikTok. E. Social Networks: Online platforms where users can create profiles, share information, and socialize with others using a range of technologies. F. Live: The posing of content in a real time format, via photo, video or text. III. OFFICIAL SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES AND CONTENTS: A. The Longwood Police Department Office will establish formal profiles on social media and social networks, which will serve as official profiles of this organization. The Community Relations Unit, will create and manage all official profiles of the Longwood Police Department, including, but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter(X). B. Longwood Police Department members are prohibited from creating a profile on any social media or social network that represents the Longwood Police Department Office as an organization, unless specifically authorized by the Chief of Police or his designee. Social media technologies afford the Longwood Police Department with broader means to communicate and share information with the public. Department members are encouraged to convey ideas, strategies, and technologies, through their chain of command, which will be evaluated for implementation in a coordinated manner to avoid fragmentation and misinformation. C. The following members of the Longwood Police Department are the only members authorized to have credentialed access the department’s social media profiles for the purposes of creating, posting and editing content on the site: 1. Chief of Police or his designee 2. Deputy Chief of Police 3. Enforcement Support Lieutenant GENERAL ORDER SOCIAL MEDIA GO – 40 Page 3 of 5 4. Enforcement Support Corporal 5. Community Relations Unit Officer specifically tasked with Social Media responsibilities D. The Enforcement Support Lieutenant will establish protocols to ensure social media or social network profiles and content adheres to applicable laws, regulations, and policies, including all information technology, public information and records management policies. E. The Community Relations Unit/Officer is tasked with the creation social media content. When creating the content for public distribution on social media platforms, the Community Relations Officer should notify their chain of command prior to posting on the platforms for public consumption. 1. The Enforcement Support Lieutenant will post at the direction of the Chief of Police in times when the Community Relations Unit is unavailable, or the content is time sensitive 2. The Enforcement Support Corporal will post at the direction of the Enforcement Support Lieutenant at times Community Relations Unit/Officer is unavailable or the content is time sensitive. 3. If the members of the Longwood Police Department are at a community relations event and want to bring attention to the event in a "live' format, any member mentioned above may post a generic "live" post informing the public that the Longwood Police Department is "live" or currently attending a public event. The post shall be informative and limited as to what and where the event is and how long the event will last. F. The Longwood Police Department official profiles on social media and social networks will display a public notice that indicates that the content posted or submitted is subject to public disclosure and will stipulate the type of comments or content that will be deleted. G. Longwood Police Department members should be mindful that photographs or motion video may be captured during Longwood Police Department events that take place in a public venue or a venue open to the press, and that this multimedia may be posted to the official Longwood Police Department social media accounts, which are available to the public. H. This policy shall not restrict the creation and use of social media or social network accounts for official administrative or investigative purposes wherein the Longwood Police Department name or logo is not utilized. GENERAL ORDER SOCIAL MEDIA GO – 40 Page 4 of 5 IV. SOCIAL MEDIA CONDUCT: A. Longwood Police Department members are free to express themselves as private citizens using personal social media accounts. Employees may express themselves as private citizens regarding issues of public concern, including matters involving or impacting the Longwood Police Department, to the extent that such social media comments do not meaningfully impair their ability to effectively perform their duties, disrupt the workplace or otherwise meaningfully impair the efficient operation of the department. Employees should never use their Longwood Police Department e-mail account or password in conjunction with a personal social networking site. B. Relative to all social media, Longwood Police Department members, whether on or off duty, are prohibited from: 1. Making any statements regarding guilt or innocence of any suspect or arrestee. 2. Making any statement regarding the character or reputation of any suspect or arrestee. 3. Making any comment on active investigations, pending prosecutions, or cases pending judicial appeal in which the Longwood Police Department is involved, unless authorized by the chief. 4. Disclosing multimedia (pictures, video, sketches, or other media) of a crime scene or persons involved in an official Longwood Police Department incident by means of uploading, sharing, or otherwise transmitting the data from any device, unless authorized by the chief. 5. Making any comment revealing, posting, or disseminating the content of any criminal intelligence information, active criminal investigative information or information received from third parties with a request that the information be held in confidence. C. Members should be aware that inappropriate content or behavior posted to social media may be used to impeach a member's credibility in a court of law. Inappropriate postings could result in disciplinary action. D. For safety and security reasons, sworn members should exercise discretion when disclosing their employment with the Longwood Police Department on social media. Members are encouraged to review permissions or security settings on social media websites to ensure their profile is not fully available for viewing by the general public, and only available to those they authorize to view the page. Even when properly set, security settings on social media sites are fluid and GENERAL ORDER SOCIAL MEDIA GO – 40 Page 5 of 5 members should consider that posts could receive broad dissemination at any time. All members are encouraged to evaluate the potential harm in posting their occupation, employer, and photograph on their personal social media accounts. Furthermore, sworn members assigned or considering assignment to the sensitive assignments including but not limited to the City/County Investigative Bureau, and local, state or federal task forces, that may require undercover credentials, are prohibited from the following on social media: 1. Displaying Longwood Police Department logos, uniforms, equipment, or similar identifying items, and/or 2. Posting personal photographs, video, or other means of personal recognition that may cause them to be identified as a sworn law enforcement officer. E. Members should be aware that inappropriate content or behavior posted to social media may be used to impeach a member's credibility in a court of law. Inappropriate postings could result in disciplinary action. F. As members of a law enforcement organization, all Longwood Police Department members, both in a sworn or civilian capacity, must be cautious about revealing information on social media that could identify their home addresses, personal phone numbers, personal email addresses, or other personal identification information, such as dates of birth, account information, etc. Longwood Police Department members should be cautious of geotagging technologies, which add a person's historic or real-time location, such as GPS coordinates, to different type of multimedia or social media applications.