Springfield Police Division

SOCIAL MEDIA DISCLAIMER AND GUIDELINES FOR VISITORS TO THIS ACCOUNT

The purpose of this social media account (“account”) is to share information about the City of Springfield (“City”) with City residents, businesses, and visitors in an effort to create a welcoming environment for those who live, work, and play within its borders; to raise awareness about City sponsored events, programs, and activities; to highlight the City’s accomplishments; and to generate income for the City through promotion of various City services, events, and activities. The purpose of this account is not to create a traditional public forum for the free exchange of public comments or content (“content” means all information posted to this account, including photos, videos, and public comments). In the event public content is solicited on this account, all content will be limited to a specific topic, defined by the City. Content posted by anyone other than those individuals authorized to post content on behalf of the City does not reflect the views or opinions held by the City. The City reserves the right to delete, hide, or report content that tends to frustrate the purposes of this account. To effectuate the purposes stated herein, the City requires all visitors to this account to adhere to the following guidelines:

1. This is not the appropriate medium to report an emergency or criminal activity, to file any type of formal complaint, to make a public records request, to file any type of legal claim, or to provide legal notice of any kind. Any such attempts may not result in a response and may be deleted.

2. Content that contains any of the following in any form may be deleted:
• Content that falls outside the scope of the topic defined by the City;
• Content that violates the terms of service of this social media platform;
• Content that solicits commerce or promotes private business enterprise;
• Content that contains non-public or confidential information;
• Content promoting political campaigns, issues, or candidates;
• Content containing profanity, obscenity, or any sexually oriented content;
• Content that advocates violence or the threat of violence;
• Content that contains links to other websites, webpages, or social media accounts, unless otherwise permitted in the City of Springfield Social Media Policy;
• Content that promotes illegal activity;
• Content that compromises the safety or security of members of the public or public systems;
• Content that violates or appears to violate intellectual property laws;
• Content that violates or appears to violate the legal ownership interests of any other party;
• Content that is false, misleading, slanderous, libelous, or deceptive; and
• Content that demeans an individual or group of individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, age, disability, or any other class protected by law.

3. The failure of the City to delete any content that violates the guidelines stated herein shall not be construed as a waiver of these guidelines, shall not affect the validity of these guidelines, and shall not affect the City’s ability to delete such content in the future.

4. The City of Springfield is unaffiliated with the operator of this social media platform and has no responsibility for the privacy or security settings and policies implemented or managed by the operator of this platform. We urge you to review the privacy settings and policies of this and each website you visit via this social media platform.

5. The City of Springfield is not responsible for and does not endorse any advertising that the operator of this social media platform may post.

6. The City of Springfield reserves the right to modify these guidelines at any time and without notice.

7. If you have questions related to the operation of this particular social media account, please contact the City of Springfield at (937) 324-7300.