City of Harker Heights Social Media Terms of Use

By posting or commenting on any social media platform used by the City of Harker Heights, you participate by your own choice, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username, profile picture and any information you provide therein. By consuming, participating, viewing, and commenting, you further agree to the following terms of use:

The City of Harker Heights maintains a social media program for the following purposes:

  • Provide relevant and timely community news
  • Release information
  • Promoting the City of Harker Heights and partner organizations
  • Advertising community events and initiatives
  • Distribute crime prevention and public safety tips
  • Correct misinformation that is posted that affects city operations (whether accidental or intentional)
  • Protect the brand and reputation of the city by sharing facts and statistics to allow community members to have broad awareness of situations and incidents
  • Provide urgent notifications of critical incidents which may affect residents, business owners and visitors of the City of Harker Heights
  • Seek the public's help in identifying suspects and solving crimes
  • Showcase activities and work to bolster community trust
  • Educate the community on services and programs.

 

Limited Public Forum

All social media platforms used by the City of Harker Heights are designated as Limited Public Forums. The department welcomes a person's right to express their opinion and requests posters to keep comments relevant to the topic in question. Posting of any content on any social media platform used or managed by the City of Harker Heights, by any visitor, follower, subscriber or fan, constitutes acceptance of the terms of use described here in this policy.

For purposes of this policy, the term "social media" refers to a platform, website or mobile app that enables users to create and share content or participate in social networking with the City of Harker Heights. The City of Harker Heights utilizes a variety of social media networks consisting of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor, blogs, websites, and public safety mobile apps.

Emergency or Non-Emergency Requests for Police Assistance

The posting of requests for police, fire, or animal assistance, regardless of the nature of emergency or non-emergency asks, is discouraged and will not guarantee a response by the City of Harker Heights Public Safety agencies or any emergency service provider. Social media platforms are not monitored 24/7, therefore it is imperative that residents still contact the appropriate City of Harker Heights Public Safety agencies through the telephone system or designated reporting system. In case of an emergency, or if police or fire assistance is needed, please dial 911. If you wish to report a crime or information relevant to a crime, please call 254-953-5400. You may remain anonymous if you request.

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 and contacted by detectives.

Endorsements

"Friending,” "Liking," or “Following” the City of Harker Heights, or an officer or employee of any City of Harker Heights department, does not indicate an endorsement of that person's actions or comments.

A comment posted by a member of the City of Harker Heights’ social media network is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the City of Harker Heights, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of City of Harker Heights, Texas.

Moderation of Content

The City of Harker Heights’ social media platforms are intended to be "family friendly." When applicable, each platform’s built-in monitoring and moderation systems provide content moderation and filtering options to limit foul, indecent or obscene content. The City of Harker Heights also actively monitors all social media platforms used by the city, and will remove inappropriate content as defined below, without prior notice, and as soon as possible. The city shall reserve the right to remove, hide and/or block anyone who posts inappropriate material as determined by the city's social media content posting policy.

This material may include, but is not limited to:

  • Comments unrelated to the topic posted, photos, memes, or other content unrelated to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments;
  • Profane, obscene, or pornographic content and/or language;
  • Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin;
  • Defamatory or personal attacks, including personal attacks directed at public officials, police officers, firefighters, animal control officers or other city staff;
  • Threats to any person or organization;
  • Comments in support of, or in opposition to, any political campaigns or ballot measures;
  • Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
  • Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law, including city ordinances;
  • Encouragement of illegal activity;
  • Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
  • Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party;
  • Harassment or content which constitutes and/or facilitates stalking;
  • Content which violates the right to privacy;
  • Encouragement of violence;
  • Repetitive content continually posted on multiple City of Harker Heights posts;
  • Comments which may reasonably interfere with, inhibit, or compromise law enforcement investigations, police tactics, fire suppression, police responses to incidents and/or the safety of police or fire staff and officers;
  • Posts or comments that contain any external links.

The City of Harker Heights does not allow posting photos or videos by anyone other than members of the public information and communications team.

Right to Post Static Content

The department reserves the right to post static content and turn off options for comments to protect the community and department from personal attacks, comments unrelated to the topic posted, spam commentary, harmful links, in order to discourage the use of social media as a forum for submitting service requests, complaints, or issue resolution efforts, and other malicious content. The department does not engage in viewpoint discrimination since all comments would be prohibited, regardless of scope or content.

 

Viewpoint Discrimination

The City of Harker Heights does not engage in viewpoint discrimination as long as posts, comments, and content adhere to this social media content posting policy. Social media posts that are created by a department and may be removed by members responsible for strategic communications as long as a record of the original post is maintained.

Denial of Access

City of Harker Heights reserves the right to deny access to any City of Harker Heights social media sites for any individual, who violates the City of Harker Heights social media Terms of Use, at any time and without prior notice. 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 us at 254-953-5600 and requesting to speak to the team lead overseeing the Strategic Communications Team.

Facebook's Community of Standards

 All comments posted to any City of Harker Heights Facebook site are bound by Facebook’s Community Standards and the City of Harker Heights reserves the right to report any violation of Facebook's Community Standards to Facebook with the intent of Facebook taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

 

Instagram Community Guidelines

When applicable, the City of Harker Heights reserves the right to report any violation of the Instagram Community Guidelines, with the intent of Instagram taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

YouTube Community Guidelines

When applicable, the City of Harker Heights reserves the right to report any violation of the YouTube Community Guidelines with the intent of YouTube taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

Nextdoor Standards

When applicable, the City of Harker Heights reserves the right to report any violation of the Nextdoor Standards, with the intent of Nextdoor taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

Other Rules

When applicable, the City of Harker Heights reserves the right to report any violation of any Rules, Community Guideline or the Standards of any other online or app based sites the City participates in with the intent being for that site to take appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

Questions

Should you have any questions regarding items contained herein this Terms of Use, please contact the City of Harker Heights at 254-953-5600.