Social Media Policy
Thank you for following the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on our social media channels – Facebook, Instagram. Twitter and YouTube! We welcome you to share your thoughts and feedback with us, and we ask that you please be responsible and courteous in your comments and replies.
Our rules of decorum are in place to encourage civil discourse and to prevent a poster from disrupting dialog in a way that prevents or impedes the accomplishment of the purpose of our social media sites. Our purpose is to convey important public safety information, increase our ability to quickly, effectively, and efficiently reach Okaloosa County residents to help us find criminal suspects, find missing and/or endangered persons, communicate public safety alerts, and further our mission of preventing, reducing, suppressing, displacing, solving, and fighting crime in Okaloosa County.
These social media platforms are monitored and managed by the OCSO Office of Public Information Office. They are considered limited public forums and therefore the following conditions apply:
- Postings on these platforms constitute acceptance of these terms.
- In case of emergency, or if you need police assistance, dial 911 – Do NOT use social media to report crime. To report crime dial 850-651-7400.
- If you post information related to a crime on social media, you may be placing yourself in the position of becoming a witness to a crime and subject yourself to subpoena and in certain situations endangering yourself or others.
- “Friending” between Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office members and a citizen does not indicate endorsement of that person’s actions or comments.
- Comments posted by others on the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office social media sites are not to be considered the opinion of the agency; nor does Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office endorse any third-party comments.
- The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to remove and/or block anyone who posts inappropriate material as determined by the staff.
- The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office does not allow posting of photos or videos by anyone other than members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
- If you have photos or videos you’d like to share, contact the Public Information Office at 850-651-7420.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office welcomes a person’s right to express his/her opinion and encourages posters to keep comments related to the posted content. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office reserves the right to remove any comments that are inappropriate or offensive, including comments that: defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or violate the legal rights of others; include racism, hatred, slander, threats, obscenity, violence, vulgarity; spam or advertise; could harm the safety or well-being of one of our employees, including personal attacks; are off-topic; have personal information about another person or that violate a person’s privacy; include copyrighted material that belongs to another person; contain links to inappropriate websites.
