City Council to debate APD's social media conduct

The Albuquerque City Council is set to vote on a resolution with proposed changes to the city’s social media policy Monday.

The resolution looks to direct the “City Administration to develop a comprehensive social media policy that outlines clear guidelines for appropriate use, accountability, and consequences for misuse.”

It also says that “anything posted on a City social media account should be true, helpful, and respectful.”

Councilor Renée Grout put forth the resolution in September.

“Social media serves an important role in informing the public. But misuse of these platforms can undermine citizens’ trust. I’d like to see the Administration develop a thoughtful policy to guide employees’ use of City social media accounts,” Grout told the Journal in a statement Friday.

But the city says it already has done so.

“It’s the role of the executive branch to oversee city operations, and the administration already has a social media policy,” Staci Drangmeister, spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller’s administration, said in a statement to the Journal on Friday.

The resolution, based on the frustration of city councilors, appears largely aimed at the Albuquerque Police Department, which has come under fire in the past for X posts deemed “unprofessional.”

APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos — who has been blamed by city councilors for the social media posts — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The posts that stirred the pot for some city councilors most recently started with a response on X to ABQ Raw, a local news site, in which the official APD account said ABQ Raw’s story about a Sept. 2 shooting was inaccurate.

The replies continued with follow-up posts from APD ripping the blog and at one point inspired local landlord and vocal social media critic of APD and Keller, Douglas Peterson, to say APD was “harassing a local news organization over a meaningless detail.”

“Oh Doug. Nice to hear from you about harassment.” APD’s account responded.

The resolution came forward a little less than two weeks after a lengthy discussion at the first council meeting in September when many councilors took issue with the APD posts.

“I want to talk about mean tweets. They’re not OK. And recently we had some from the PIO (public information officer) from APD,” Grout said.

“We had this conversation a year ago, and it’s serious. We have to take a higher road, and sometimes we have to bite our tongue and suck it up.”

The September posts weren’t the first time APD’s social media has come under scrutiny.

In January 2023, some slammed the conduct and content of posts as bullying and intimidation.