EVERETT — Everett police turned off comments on its Facebook page due to an increase in “threats of violence” in recent months, Chief John DeRousse announced Tuesday.
DeRousse called the move a “temporary pause” to limit comments deemed threatening to officers. The police chief wrote that comments will resume after a “period of time,” but didn’t provide a specific timeline.
“As a police department, we are not strangers to receiving criticism, but where we draw the line is calls for violence against this department or its officers,” DeRousse wrote. “In Everett, threats of violence against our officers are not imaginary.”
The department will coordinate with the city’s legal and communications departments to determine when to turn the commenting option back on.
In his announcement, DeRousse, who was sworn in as the new chief last month, did not specify when an increase in online threats started. However, comments flooded their Facebook page last month when a YouTube video surfaced showing Everett officer Ryan Greely arresting a woman for filming him on duty.
Commenters called for Greely to be fired, deeming the arrest unconstitutional.
“When did recording become illegal?” one comment read.
Since then, users have continued to leave comments and links to the video on the department’s Facebook page, where it posts almost daily.
“Maybe someday cops will stop being such cowards…..but I doubt it,” one commenter wrote under a Dec. 18 post about holiday shopping tips.
The statement did not specify which comments the department considered threatening to officers. Everett officer Ora Hamel said the department is not removing existing comments from the page.
“Facebook comments are just one way for the public to communicate with us,” Hamel wrote in an email Wednesday. “We will be reminding the public of the different options for getting in contact with our department.”
In the Tuesday statement, DeRousse mentioned the murder of Everett officer Dan Rocha last year as part of his growing concern for officer safety.
“Our community still mourns the loss of an officer and we’re still feeling the impacts of other instances of officers being seriously injured on the job,” DeRousse wrote. “While we all make the safety of this community our top priority, I also care deeply about the safety of our officers and ensuring they get home to their families after each shift.”
In September, the city of Lake Stevens similarly shut down comments on social media after residents made complaints about new roundabouts in the area’s busiest intersections.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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