SAUGUS — The Police Department has been locked out of its Facebook page since July 2023.
The last post on the department’s page wished residents a happy Fourth of July last year.
Detective John Daigle, who ran the page, said that it was initially set up as a personal page and had been running well for nine years until Facebook started verifying pages.
Daigle said that soon afterward, he got a notice from Facebook saying that the account was considered a “gray” account and would need verification.
“It was an automated message, which I replied to,” Daigle said, noting that he said in his response that the page represents a police department.
Daigle said that he did not hear back for 30 days, after which the account was closed, which Daigle disputed.
He said that the page still exists and is online, allowing residents to comment and interact with the preexisting posts, but the department is unable to post or respond in any way.
Daigle said that the department was finally able to get in touch with a Facebook employee, who rectified the issue.
After that, Daigle said the problem was briefly fixed after the department provided a new email address for the account to be associated with.
It was then re-categorized as a government profile and verified.
The next three months went fine, Daigle said, until July 3, 2023, the date of the page’s last post.
“I get a notice saying, ‘Your Facebook page doesn’t meet community guidelines,’” Daigle said.
Daigle said that when he reached out to Facebook to see what guidelines the page did not adhere to, Facebook was unable to be specify.
Chief Michael Ricciardelli said that Facebook is an important tool for the department to maintain a connection with the community, and without access to it, the department loses some of its ability to conduct outreach.
“It’s made things difficult,” Ricciardelli said. “A lot of it is community engagement, but a lot of it’s important too.”
He added that the department would like to be able to share notices of missing people and other important news, but is unable to do so on Facebook.
The department is looking to resolve the issue by getting in direct touch with someone who works at Facebook.
If that is unsuccessful, the department might need to create a new Facebook page. Daigle and Ricciardelli said this would be less than ideal, as it might confuse residents due to search-engine results and would erase the previous page’s accounts and activities.
Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
