ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – An Albuquerque city councilor says it’s time to write some new rules for city-run social media accounts.

This comes after a some feisty replies from the Albuquerque police X, or Twitter, account a few weeks back.

We all know you can post anything online. It’s a big reason why some folks love social media. But when it comes to official government accounts, like the ones run by Albuquerque police, some city leaders believe there needs to be rules.

That was made abundantly clear earlier this month when city councilors blasted APD for a series of snarky and somewhat vindictive replies to everyday citizens. This was the second time it happened.

Now, some could argue these replies are not very inappropriate on their own. But, these came from the official APD account. The same one we’re expected to rely on for important crime-related information.

City Councilor Renee Grout says personal attacks against regular citizens are just unacceptable.

“It disturbed me greatly. It also disturbed many others, it’s embarrassing to have this kind of behavior. We can’t respond that way,” said Grout. 

Grout is introducing a new proposal, directing the city to develop new policies for city-run social media accounts.

Those policies should include content guidelines, behavioral expectations, and disciplinary measures for when city employees violate those policies.

“We just needed to have accountability and remember what we’re here for. We are in the customer service business, and we need to do a better job of responding to our customers and which are our constituents and and and help them out better,” Grout said. 

Grout’s proposal was just introduced, so it could be several weeks until the city council votes on it. If approved, the city would have 30 days to develop those new policies.

We reached out to the city about this, and a spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller’s office says there already is a social media policy posted online and welcome anyone to take a look at it.