San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Social Media Programs
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office maintains a social media program for the purpose of engaging and interacting with our community, providing relevant and timely community news, information, and events, distribution of crime prevention and public safety tips for urgent notifications of critical incidents, etc. which may affect residents, business owners and visitors to the San Joaquin County, and for those people having an interest in the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Social Media Terms of Use applies to any social media sites maintained by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. All social media platforms used by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, including our website, mobile application, Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram account, LinkedIn account, Youtube channel, and or any other social media account(s) administered by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, adhere to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Social Media Terms of Use, which states the following:
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office participates in social media to provide information of interest to the San Joquin County Community about our County departments, services, issues, news, and events. Social media is also an excellent way for the community to learn about the County & government.
Please be aware that the County does not operate social media sites. All social media sites on which the County participates are owned and operated by third-party entities not affiliated with the County, which have different policies that may change without notice.
By posting or commenting on any social media platform used by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office (including its departments and entities), you participate by your own choice, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username, and any information you provide therein.
You further agree to the following terms of use:
Limited Public Forum
All social media platforms used by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office are designated as Limited Public Forums. The County welcomes a person’s right to express his/her opinion and encourages posters to keep comments relevant to the topic in question. Posting of any content on any social media platform used by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office by any visitor, follower, subscriber, or fan constitutes acceptance of the terms of use described here in this policy. For purposes of this policy, a social media platform is a website or app offered to the public to provide audio, video, still-photo, or written communication between other members of the public and or representatives of certain groups, businesses, organizations, or departments. Examples of social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, TikTok, website blogs with commenting capabilities, forums, and emergency notification services. The definition of content, as used in this policy, refers to any written copy, photos, graphics, videos, live-video streams, comments, or any form of communicative content exchanged between parties.
Emergency or Non-Emergency Requests for Police Assistance
Social media accounts maintained by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office are not continuously monitored. The posting of requests for police or emergency assistance, regardless if it is of an emergency or non-emergency nature, is discouraged and will not guarantee a response by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office or any emergency service provider.
In case of an emergency, or if emergency police assistance is needed, please dial 9-1-1. To request non-emergency police assistance, or if you wish to report a crime or information relevant to a crime, please call the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Communication Center at (209)468-4400 or visit sjsheriff.org
In the event you post information related to a crime, you may be placing yourself in a position of becoming a witness and subject to being subpoenaed into court.
Privacy
This is an official social media page for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, and anything you post here, including comments, private messages, chats, “Likes,” and posts that have been deleted, may be subject to the California Public Records Act and subject to disclosure in the event of litigation. As technology and laws change, updates may be made to this page and Policy without notice.
Special terms of use for San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office employees (Sworn and Non-Sworn)
San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office employees, sworn and non-sworn, are reminded that their contributions to social media sites may be considered government speech rather than private speech and may be governed by California and federal laws such as the Brown Act or federal elections and campaign laws. The use of a personal email address, non-county identifier, or non-county moniker alone will not change a County employee’s or public officer’s speech from government speech to private speech. Even posting a disclaimer in the content, such as stating, “these comments reflect my own private opinion and do not, in any way, reflect the opinion of the San Joquin County Sheriff’s Office,” may not be sufficient to transform a sworn or non-sworn employee’s speech from government speech to private speech.
If San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office employees, contractors, volunteers, agents, and any other person or entity participating in social media wish to post or comment on social media sites from their personal accounts, they shall do so on their own time and on their own equipment and are not speaking on behalf of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Employees must refer to the internal policy.
Posts and/or Comments
By participating on any social media site operated by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, you agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to any information posted.
Social media users must comply with intellectual property standards and must limit content to that which is rightfully posted.
Where applicable, posts and or comments are not enabled on this site per the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Social Media Policy. However, wherever a user is able to post and/or comment anywhere on the San Joquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page, it should directly pertain to government activities of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Posts and or comments containing any kind of inappropriate content shall not be permitted on the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media pages and are subject to removal by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office without prior notice. Unpermitted content includes but is not limited to:
1. Political issues, including posts about elected officials or candidates for elective office and topics appearing on an election ballot;
2. Profane, indecent or obscene content;
3. Sexual content or links to sexual content or obscene and indecent speech;
4. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or national origin;
5. Defamation, threats, violent or hate speech;
6. Promotional announcements not related to County business;
7. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
8. Posts in violation of any Federal, State, County, or Local law;
9. Posts that encourage illegal activity;
10. Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
11. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright or trademark, of any party;
12. Content that contains confidential or proprietary information;
13. Content that violates another person’s right to privacy or any other right;
14. Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments;
15. Harassment or content which constitutes and/or facilitates stalking;
16. Encouragement of violence;
17. Repetitive content;
18. Posts or comments that contain any external links; and
19. Comments which may reasonably interfere with, inhibit, or compromise law enforcement investigations, police tactics, police responses to incidents, and/or the safety of police staff and officers.
A comment posted on any San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page is the opinion of the commentator only. Publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. No posts and or comments on any San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page constitute a legally binding representation on the part of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Furthermore, an opinion expressed on the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page is not a substitute for a formal statement in a public hearing process.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy. All such notices shall be provided and delivered to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office in the manner described by applicable law, regulation, or contract. For further information, please contact the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
All posts and/or comments posted to any San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page are bound by the social media website’s legal terms and conditions of use. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to report any violations of such conditions with the intent of the operator of the site taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.
Denial of Use
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this Policy or any applicable law.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office’s social media pages are provided as a public service. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office disclaims liability for ads, videos, promoted content, or messages accessible from any external web page.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right, without prior notice, to deny access to San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media pages for any individual who repeatedly violates this Policy.
Any litigation regarding the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office actions, content, or information on any social media page shall be filed in the County of San Joaquin.
If you wish to contest the removal or hiding of your content or your denial of access (“banned”) from our social media platforms, you may do so by contacting the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Public Information team.
Disclaimers
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from any comments posted on the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office social media page.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to change this policy at any time without notice.
Contacting the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office
For more information about the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, please visit the official San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office website at sjsheriff.org or call (209)468-4400, Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The contact person at the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office for social media sites is:
Public Information
7000 Michael Canlis Blvd
French Camp, CA 95231
(209)468-4400
Email: sjsoinfo@sjgov.org
This document was last updated on December 8, 2023