Chief Art Acevedo, Austin PD

First, the Austin, TX, police shut down a Twitter account that was posing as the official Austin PD Twitter account and was sending out false information. Now they have been the target of an online smear campaign. According to Statesman.com, comments on local blogs and news media sties have been falsely attributed to the chief and other officers of the Austin PD, spreading false information.

The Austin PD views these actions as harassment and is looking for ways to track down and prosecute the offenders. The state recently passed a law that makes posting harmful, defamatory comments on a social networking site a 3rd degree felony.

Obviously, people who are falsely attributing their comments to police officers are not only frustrating police efforts and confusing the public, but they are dangerously spreading lies and damaging public confidence in law enforcement. But I think Chief Art Acevedo said it best: “Quite frankly, when [these] people are willfully misleading and lying, they are pretty much cowards anyway because they are doing so under the cloak of anonymity.” Well said.

Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/09/18/0918comments.html

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