Our hope is that this will help stop the divisive language which has filled our page over the past few years. For this reason, WPD has decided to remove all commenting from our Facebook page. “Over the past year, the Wilmington Police Department found people engaging in adversarial conversations through the Facebook platform that could easily lead to violence and the department does not want to enable such communication on its page. The WPD provided the following statement when asked why they began limiting comments on their Facebook page: Do better.” Another person commenting on that post referenced how much gun violence Wilmington has for being a relatively small city, while someone else asked why the Black Lives Matter activists weren’t doing more to protest crime in the city. That is the second time I’ve been at a swim meet down there with my young children when someone was shot close enough that we could hear the gunfire. On June 24, in response to a WPD post about a shooting on 13th Street, Facebook user Matt Barker commented, “We heard the shots while we were at a swim meet.
It has allowed comments on posts on the page for the last ten years, and continued to allow them as recently as June 24, but not anymore.Ĭomments on the page generated tips for police, but also allowed people to post unflattering words about the police department, and divisive comments in general. The department uses the page to publicize surveillance images of suspects, post missing persons bulletins, let the public know about traffic delays, and more. (WECT) - The Wilmington Police Department is no longer allowing the public to comment on its Facebook page.