The Edmonton Police Commission (Commission) supports the use of social media to further the strategic direction and goals of the organization. Social media provides additional tools and channels that can complement traditional communications and marketing methods and mediums.
The Commission will build its presence on social media sites and use social media tools with consideration given to:
- ensuring efforts align with the Commission’s values and policies;
- identifying the fit with communication plans and strategies;
- understanding the benefits, implications and risks in using social media.
This policy applies to all Commissioners, staff, and third parties working on behalf of the Commission.
Definitions:
Social media: refers to freely accessible, third-party hosted, interactive web-based technologies used to produce, post and interact through text, images, video, and audio to inform, share, promote, collaborate or network.
Guidelines:
- The Commission’s Executive Director (ED) is responsible for managing the corporate social media presence and coordinating social media initiatives overall to ensure quality, active and effective efforts. The ED will also monitor and oversee all social media initiatives and activities and assign staff who will develop, implement and support social media initiatives.
- Any Commissioner who uses a social media account or profile set-up and identifies as a member of the Commission will adhere to the following guidelines:
- Consistent with the Commission’s Code of Conduct policy, Commissioners must accurately reflect the decisions of the Commission and may not weigh in on the opinions or political positions of any elected official;
- Comments should not discriminate, harass, or demonstrate disrespect toward any person;
- Must maintain confidentiality and protection of privacy by not releasing any information that was presented in camera and/or breach privacy regulations as outlined in Province of Alberta’s privacy legislation (ATIA);
- No police information may be divulged in any way to unauthorized persons or agencies;
- May not use their accounts to solicit funds, donations or volunteers for any political candidate’s campaign;
- Commissioner accounts should have a contact disclaimer and acceptable use information.
- If Commissioners use their personal account(s) to comment on Commission and/or Service activities, their comments will be governed by the Code of Conduct policy and a Commissioner may not avoid this, or other applicable policy, by changing the name or identifier on their social media account.
NOTE: Commissioners engaging in communications on social network sites, whether they communicate an association with the Commission or not, could place themselves at risk and should exercise caution as to not place the Commission or the Service at reputational risk.
Commission staff will monitor the activity of all Commissioner’s social media accounts on an ongoing basis and will report inappropriate content back to the Commission.
Commissioners may contact the ED to get guidance and/or training prior to posting or setting up a social media account.
References:
- Access To Information Act (ATIA)
- EPC Policy 4.2.1 – Code of Conduct
Revised April 16, 2026