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APD slammed for social media conduct, this time by city councilors
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City councilors aired grievances with the conduct on the Albuquerque Police Department鈥檚 X account Wednesday night.
During the first council meeting of September, Councilor Renee Grout got the ball rolling on the conversation.
鈥淚 want to talk about mean tweets. They鈥檙e not OK. And recently we had some from the PIO (public information officer) from APD,鈥� Grout said.
鈥淲e had this conversation a year ago, and it鈥檚 serious. We have to take a higher road, and sometimes we have to bite our tongue and suck it up.鈥�
The incident Grout was referring to was from January 2023, when some slammed the conduct of APD on X as .
Gilbert Gallegos, the department鈥檚 director of communications, did not respond to a call requesting comment from the Journal on Thursday.
APD Police Chief Harold Medina, however, said Thursday that 鈥淭hese are not random people. We are pushing back against the same individuals who use their positions to pursue a political agenda against APD.鈥�
Councilor Nichole Rogers mentioned Gallegos by name and asked APD Internal Affairs Commander Dodi Camacho if Gallegos was punished for controversial posts by the department in 2023.
The controversial posting spree took place Monday, beginning with APD鈥檚 account telling website ABQ RAW that its story on a shooting was inaccurate.
A woman was not shot and nobody was charged for this shooting. Bad info from
鈥� Albuquerque Police Department (@ABQPOLICE)
It continued with follow-up posts ripping website and then turned personal.
At one point, the APD account responded to local property investor Douglas Peterson, who criticized the department for 鈥渉arassing a local news organization over a meaningless detail.鈥�
鈥淥h Doug. Nice to hear from you about harassment.鈥� .
Oh Doug. Nice to hear from you about harassment.
鈥� Albuquerque Police Department (@ABQPOLICE)
鈥淚t鈥檚 unprofessional,鈥� Peterson said in an interview with the Journal on Thursday.
Peterson also took aim at Mayor Tim Keller鈥檚 previous support of the department fighting 鈥渕isinformation鈥� on social media and said he and the other accounts that APD responded to were not posting misinformation.
鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on big issues. We don鈥檛 micromanage Twitter banter. We support the department and their ability to push back on misinformation online,鈥� a spokesperson for the Mayor鈥檚 Office said Thursday.
Peterson also called the posts a form of intimidation and said the department seeks to disparage people who criticize its work.
Following Grout, Councilors Dan Champine, Brook Bassan, Rogers and Klarissa Pe帽a all criticized the department鈥檚 conduct on social media.
