The Albuquerque City Council voted 8-1 to pass a resolution that directs the “City Administration to develop a comprehensive social media policy that outlines clear guidelines for appropriate use, accountability, and consequences for misuse.” The sole vote NO on the resolution was City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn as she essentially backhanded the City Council for trying to do something and Gilbert Gallegos for his conduct.
The resolution is aimed at improving the use of official City social media accounts. The resolution delineates what is the appropriate use of city social media accounts. It requires the city to post all social media policies.
The passage of the resolution was the direct result of controversial and insulting social media posts made by the Albuquerque Police Department’s Director of Communication Gilbert Gallegos against private citizens critical of APD. APD Chief Harold Medina and Mayor Tim Keller said the tweets were justifiable. The City Attorney told councilors it’s a personnel matter and she would not discuss it on the record with them.
EXISTING CITY SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
It was on August 22, 2022 that then Chief Administrative Officer Lawence Rael signed off on the City’s social media usage policy.
The purpose of the policy “is to establish rules and responsibilities around the use of social media for City of Albuquerque departments. It is intended to guide City departments and employees as they create and publish content and maintain user standards on social media sites on behalf of the City of Albuquerque.”
Under the policy, City of Albuquerque social media sites are required to comply with the City of Albuquerque’s Code of Ethics and all administrative rules created under that code. City of Albuquerque social media sites are also subject to the State of New Mexico’s public records laws.
The rules outlined in the policy make it clear that departmental staff are responsible for the contents of any social media. Department directors must authorize employees to post.
City of Albuquerque social media site posts or comments made by the public, constituents, or followers containing any of the following content are prohibited, and may be removed without notice by the Communications Director or their designee:
- Posts not topically related to the particular social media site, or comments not topically related to the post or article being commented upon;
- Posts or comments in support of or opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures;
- Profane language or content;
- Posts or comments intended to spread false information or threaten, harass or defame others;
- Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation;
- Sexual content or links to sexual content;
- Solicitations of commerce not directly related to City business;
- Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
- Information that is intentionally factually incorrect and which may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
- Content that violates any federal, state or local law or a legal ownership interest of any other party;
- Information about actual or potential claims and litigation involving the City, unless such claims have been resolved;
- Any protected or confidential information regarding any City employee, resident, or elected official.
City of Albuquerque social media accounts may respond to comments or posts relevant to the department, division, or program in order to provide information. When responding or posting to social media on behalf of the City, the city responder must:
- Keep it professional – avoid confrontation.
- Correct errors, and if modifying an earlier post, identify the change.
- Any department may delete, merge, or unpublish a social media post only with prior approval from a supervisor.
City of Albuquerque accounts may respond to comments or posts relevant to the department, division, or program in order to provide information.
The rules include one barring “posts or comments intended to spread false information or threaten, harass or defame others.” The policy also says “violations of this policy may be grounds for discipline up to and including termination.”
The link to review the full unedited social media policy is here:
https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/albuquerque/latest/albuquerque_nm_admin/0-0-0-35520
RESOLUTION CONTENTS
City Council resolution R-24-89 sponsored by District 9 City Councilor Renée Grout and enacted by the city council directs the Keller Administration to develop a comprehensive social media policy that outlines clear guidelines for appropriate use, accountability, and consequences for misuse.
The resolution emphasizes the role of City government is to promote the public’s health, safety and growth. It directs the City Administration to create, implement, and enforce a comprehensive social media policy to be applied to all City public media accounts that includes:
- Behavioral expectations: Establishing clear guidelines for respectful and professional online conduct.
- Content specifications: Defining appropriate and inappropriate content for City social media accounts.
- Response guidelines: Providing guidance on how to respond to comments and messages, including those that may be negative or inflammatory.
- Monitoring and review: Implementing a system for regularly monitoring and reviewing social media accounts for compliance.
- Disciplinary actions: Outlining consequences for misuse of official social media accounts.
The resolution also requires the City Administration to make the social media policy easily accessible to the public and to establish a mechanism for reporting potential violations.
The link to the quoted source material on the Grout sponsored city council resolution is here:
A HISTORY OF MEAN TWEETS
It was in February and March of 2022 that the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was first taken to task for its social media posts by APD Communications Director Gilbert Gallegos. Many considered the posts inappropriate and constituted intimidation and harassment of members of the public.
It was reported that the Albuquerque Police Department’s Twitter account had been used by Gilbert Gallegos to poke fun at former APD Chief Michael Geier falsely accusing Geier of having dementia, attacked property owners who have complained about crime and made fun of crime in an affluent neighborhood. APD for its part made no apologies for the tweets on its TWITTER and FACEBOOK page with Chief Harold Medina and Mayor Tim Keller defending the conduct.
The most egregious tweets by APD Public Information Officer Gilbert Gallegos worth noting are as follows:
VILIFYING A PRIVATE CITIZEN
Last year, Doug Peterson, a prominent commercial real estate owner, took to Twitter to complain about crime and homelessness in Downtown Albuquerque. He spoke to the media about his frustrations over how the homeless are affecting property values and destroying businesses. Doug Peterson said this about his tweets:
“I was vehemently complaining about the lack of response that my company has been getting from APD, mostly about property crime. The information that I put out there is straight from our properties and what we’re experiencing.”
APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos responded to the tweets by Peterson on APDs Twitter account and posted the following:
“Calling out your b.s. [bull shit] is public service.” (May 24, 2022 at 9:25 AM,)
“You only complain and never offer solutions.” (October 13, 2022 at 3:52 PM)
“Your racism aside, we have charged 99 murder suspects this year.” (October 6, 2022 at 9:33 pm)
APD Police Chief Harold Medina was asked at the time to respond to the propriety of the APDs tweets against Peterson. The policy states when replying to posts on city accounts, city employees are supposed to “keep it professional and avoid confrontation.” Medina admitted that some of the tweets violated the city’s social media policy.
Medina referred to the Peterson tweets as “cyberbullying” and said this:
“At times, yes, we push back and sometimes people don’t like the way we push back. I think [the tweets] were appropriate for the individuals that they were meant for. … They bluntly point out differences [and] I’m OK with that. … There are some individuals who, politically, for political reasons or a variety of reasons, are resort to cyberbullying, which is something real. And I don’t think that it’s necessarily fair.”
Another APD tweet that generated controversy came in July 2022 after the death of a 15-year-old boy caught in a SWAT standoff in a home that later caught fire. Some used Twitter to blame the police for the boy’s “murder.” In response, APD Spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos tweeted to all:
“Didn’t know a fire could murder someone.”
In that case, APD Chief Medina said he told department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos to tone it down. Notwithstanding, Medina stood behind Gallegos proclaiming that APD was responding to what he deemed “inaccuracies.”
Mayor Tim Keller voiced no problem with the confrontational tweets and said this:
“APD has its own social media policy. … We support their efforts to push back on misinformation on social media.”
City Councilor Louie Sanchez is a retired APD Officer. He demanded that APD tone down their tweets. Councilor Louie Sanchez said this:
“The department thinks that harassing and intimidating people is community policing; they’re on the wrong path.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/2570384/albuquerque-police-tweets-slammed-by-some-as-intimidation.html
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-police-twitter-tweets/42748358
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-police-mean-tweets/43387226
https://www.abqraw.com/post/city-council-looking-to-defund-apd-s-twitter-and-the-troll-who-runs-it
MALIGNING A FORMER APD CHIEF
On March 22, 2022, a KOAT TV Target 7 Investigation reported that APD Public Information Officer Gilbert Gallegos posts had reached a new low. This time the tweets poked fun at former APD Chief Michael Geier and rumored dementia as well as crime in affluent Tanoan.
Former APD Chief Geier was forced to retire on September 10, 2020, some would say terminated, by Mayor Tim Keller and replaced him with APD Chief Harold Medina. It was Geier who recruited Medina to return to APD as a Deputy Chief of Field Services. A few days after Geier “retired” it was revealed that Geier was indeed forced out by Mayor Tim Keller. Chief Geier was summoned to a city park by Mayor Tim Keller during the Labor Day Holiday weekend where Geier was told that his services were no longer needed. It was also revealed then First Deputy Chief Harold Medina helped orchestrate Geier’s removal. He did so with the help of then CAO Sarita Nair.
Medina became insubordinate to Geier and learning Geier was going to take disciplinary action against him and demote and transfer him, Medina struck back. Geier also hired Gilbert Gallegos as an APD Spokesman and Gallegos was a Medina loyalist. As soon as Geier left, Gallegos and Medina both unleashed a torrent of social media criticism towards Chief Geier blaming him for all of APD’s mismanagement. Medina himself refused to take any responsibility for any of his mismanagement as Deputy Chief of the Field Services.
On March 16, 2023, a TWITTER exchange began when APD held a press conference to release the city’s 2022 crime statistics and announced that property crime had dropped 40%. Private attorney Tom Grover who represents former APD Chief Michael Geier posted a response on TWITTER to APD’s statistics and said this:
“Or another way to look at this is under Chief Geier there was a 23% drop in property crime while under @abqpolicechief there was only 12%”
APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallego’s responded to Grover’s post on TWITTER, now X, saying this:
“Ask your client who is responsible for lower property crime? Oh wait, he probably isn’t aware.”
In an interview with Target 7, Grover said this about Gallego’s APD TWEET:
“There’s been this really disgusting theory that somehow Chief Geier has dementia or pre-onset Alzheimer’s and that he was forgetful on certain occasions. … They’re just these grotesque aspersions towards the chief. He [Gilbert Gallegos] was making fun and he was acting in a manner totally inconsistent with what we would expect from the largest law enforcement agency in the state.”
On the same day APD released the city’s crime statistics, downtown property owner Doug Peterson tweeted that the crime stats released by Gilbert an “absolute joke.”
APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallego’s responded to Peterson’s TWEET by posting “how’s crime in Tanoan” referring to the affluent gated community where Peterson ostensibly lives.
KOAT Target 7 contacted former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White and asked him about the APD Tanoan TWEET and APDs policy of “pushing back” on social media. After seeing the APD TWEET, White said this:
“I don’t think the family of James Hogan who was murdered in a home invasion in Tanoan would think this tweet is funny. … Which I felt was completely insensitive. … Pointing out the failures of the mayor and the chief is not misinformation. It’s just criticism. You’re going to be criticized no matter what you do, good or bad. There are always going to be people that criticize you. And that’s just part of the game.”
Target 7 reached out and specifically asked if Mayor Keller condoned tweets that were reportedly making light of someone’s alleged medical condition and crime in an affluent neighborhood. A spokeswoman for Mayor Keller said in an email:
“As stated previously, we support the department in their efforts to push back against misinformation on social media.”
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-city-council-police-mean-tweets/43511199#
MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF MEDINA DEFEND TWEETS
Notwithstanding the City Council’s objections to the tweets and conduct of Gilbert Gallegos, APD Police Chief Harold Medina and Mayor Tim Keller refused to put a stop to the “mean tweets” by Gallegos. Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina proclaimed the “mean tweets” were legitimate push back against APD critics. They both expressed no problem with “mean tweets” even acknowledging the tweets violate city policy which states when replying to posts on city accounts, city employees are supposed to, “keep it professional and avoid confrontation.”
APD Chief Harold Medina said this:
“These are not random people. We are pushing back against the same individuals who use their positions to pursue a political agenda against APD. … .”
When asked if the tweets followed city policy, Medina said “some of them may not, but some of them bluntly point out differences. And I’m okay with that.”
Mayor Keller for his part said he and his office “supports the department in their efforts to push back against misinformation on social media.”
The council resolution was introduced by City Councilor Grout after she received feedback from frustrated residents, particularly regarding crime in the city. Grout said this:
“People are frustrated with what’s going on in the city. Crime and crime is affecting all of us. And so, they (APD) have every right to air their grievances and so forth. … But it doesn’t mean that I need to be replying in a negative way. We need to be respectful and take the higher road always.”
COUNCILORS AND KELLER ADMINISTRATION CLASH
The November 18 City Council meeting resulted in a clash between City Councilors and the Mayor Tim Keller Administration.
Though the city adopted a social media policy, Grout believes it lacks clarity regarding what is acceptable online behavior. Grout’s ordinance aims to provide a clearer framework for how city employees interact with the public online. City Councilor Renee Grout had this to say about her resolution:
“It’s important that when we post on the city’s behalf that we remember that we have to take our personal attacks out of it and remember that we are representing the city, and it needs to be respectful. Our comments need to be helpful, they need to be factual, and they need to be thoughtful. And just because somebody says something that is negative or not kind, it doesn’t mean that we have to go back with the same kind of insults. If those guidelines are not adhered to, then there needs to be disciplinary action, which may include, may or may not, include termination.”
“So the city does have a policy that they created in 2022 for social media, but it doesn’t have it doesn’t address what’s appropriate and not appropriate to post. … So it’s directing the administration to develop a policy that sets expectations for appropriate behavior, specifies what is appropriate content, and prohibits personal attacks. It sets guidelines for appropriate responses to negative comments. “I would like it to define disciplinary actions that need to be taken. … And then also, I would like it to be posted on the city’s transparency on the website.”
During the council meeting, Westside City Councilor Louie Sanchez, who is a retired APD police officer, took to task and directly blamed APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos for the need to enact the resolution. Sanchez also took an opportunity to criticize APD Chief Harold Medina and Mayor Keller and his administration. Sanchez went so far as to call for is position to be defunded and eliminated. Councilor Sanchez said this:
“We already know this is the Gilbert Gallegos bill. He’s attacked [victim’s family members] on X, attorneys, citizens and business owners, and those things have been made public. … This falls on the lap of the police chief for letting this go on and on; this falls on the lap of the CAO for her failure to properly manage the police chief, and it also goes straight back to the mayor for ignoring a major problem that’s been made public. … I definitely support this bill, and I think it’s very important that each one of us here on the dais support this bill as well.”
Both City Councilors Louis Sanchez and Councilor Nichole Rogers asked for Gilbert Gallegos’s position to be defunded.
KELLER ADMINISTRATION LASHES OUT
Keller’s Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel said in response to city councilors said this:
“I have said before here on this microphone that I would not be discussing personnel and discipline matters publicly on the record. … So the assumption by this council that there has been nothing done related to the matters that have been discussed is presumptuous.”
Staci Drangmeister, a spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller, has said that the city already has a social media policy and there is no need for a new policy.
Tammy Fiebelkorn, the only City Councilor who voted against the resolution, parroted the Keller Administration’s position and essentially backhanded the City Council for trying to do something and Gilbert Gallegos and said this: .
“The City already has a social media policy, so a second one isn’t going to make a difference. … City employees follow that existing policy and treat the public with the respect they deserve, with the exception of just one employee. It seems to me that rather than passing additional policies, the administration should enforce the existing policy.”
Links to quoted and relied upon news sources are here:
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
It’s a damn shame that Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina have very little or no respect for the Albuquerque City Council and the general public they disagree with as they condoned and supported the conduct of Gilbert Gallegos and his abuse of APD social media. Twice the Albuquerque City Council condemned “mean tweets” and demanded they cease, to no avail. The Citizens Police Oversight Agency went so far as to sustain a complaint against APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos finding misconduct with his use of APD’s social media accounts, yet Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina proclaim the “mean tweets” to be legitimate push back against APD critics.
A citizen who has what they believe are legitimate complaints about APD does not mean APD has the right to vilify them or take issue with them and just presume that what they say is inaccurate or requiring a public push back. It does not mean APD has the right to engage in slander and violate people’s first amendment rights of free speech.
Chief Medina enabling a public relations flack to attack a private citizen because they are critical of APD is not appropriate. It is not cyberbullying as Chief Medina proclaimed. Calling a businessman, who is exercising his right of free speech, a racist as Gallegos did is not keeping it professional nor is it avoiding confrontation but libelous. Making fun of a former Police Chief implying mental infirmity is offensive.
The function of PIO’s is to interreact with the press and the public and distribute accurate information to the public and the press and give interviews where necessary. APD Spokespersons historically have been sworn police officers. Gilbert Gallegos is a civilian at will employee, he is a former newspaper reporter and former spokesperson for elected officials and is essentially a political appointee and some would say a political hack.
Chief Medina and Mayor Keller refused to put a stop to the “mean tweets” by Gallegos leaving the city council with few options. Apparently, Keller and Medina have no problem with “mean tweets,” by not acknowledging they violate city policy which states when replying to posts on city accounts, city employees are supposed to “keep it professional and avoid confrontation.” When asked if the tweets followed city policy, Chief Medina said “some of them may not, but some of them bluntly point out differences. And I’m okay with that.” Mayor Keller for his part said his office “supports the department in their efforts to push back against misinformation on social media.”
Chief Medina and APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos have a warped misunderstanding of their role when it comes to dealing with the public, processing citizen complaints and talking to the public in general. Their attitude as reflected by “mean tweets” is that unless you agree with APD and all of its actions, you are “anti-cop”, or you are a “cop hater.” Gilbert and Chief Medina have a warped understanding of the concept of to protect and serve. They know the “mean tweets” generate extreme hostility and mistrust towards private citizens they target. We have a mayor who allows them to do it.
It is likely that now that the council has passed the resolution, Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Medina and the Keller administration will simply ignore the resolution and do absolutely nothing to change or upgrade the existing social media policy. What the City Council should have done is to be far more aggressive and take a vote of no confidence and demand the termination of Gilbert Gallegos and defund the position.
Links to related blog articles are here: