The Sheriff and staff recommend that the Board of Supervisors accept the grant award, attached FY 2019 budget adjustment, and appropriation for the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services Justice Assistance Grant for Social Media Policy and Training.

The Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) has subawarded Spotsylvania County $10,458 in federal grants funds for the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant for social media policy development and training.  The Sheriff’s Office will utilize these funds to hire a social media liability attorney. Working in collaboration with this attorney, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office will work to prevent future legal liabilities resulting from inherent nuances of federal and state speech laws, and their impact on the public sector employees’ constitutional rights, among othe concerns and liabilities. 

By September 30, 2018, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office will develop a new Social Media Liability Policy to avoid potential conflict between an employee’s duty to the agency and the employee’s constitutional right to freedom of expression.  Training on the newly adopted policy will also be provided to approximately 300 sworn and non-sworn personnel employed by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.

The grant award funds will be used for the following:

There is no local match requirement, and no requirement to continue funding the program after the award expires on September 30, 2018.

Captain Roger Harris II, Sheriff’s Office

The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office recognizes the importance of maintaining an updated policy on social media use for law enforcement officers.  Recent legal cases in the Commonwealth and around the country have demonstrated the costs to public sector departments which fail to properly execute and train staff on such policies. For instance, in the Liverman v. City of Petersburg case, the police department’s social media policy was determined to have been too broad and in violation of officers’ First Amendment rights. The department’s social media policy was not written by a specialist in social media or electronic media law, and the locality ultimately settled a $4.7 million law suit.   As the use of social media resources such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram continues to proliferate, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office wants to ensure that it does not find itself in a similar situation. 

Denial of the award will mean that the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office will lose the ability to utilize $10,458 in federal pass-through funds to collaborate with a social media liability attorney for policy development  and training.