LYNN — The Lynn Police Department addressed comments on its Facebook regarding misuse of the public comment section.

The post, published on Wednesday, said the department’s social media pages are intended to provide information to the public and are not monitored for reporting crimes or emergencies. The department instructs residents to call 911 in an emergency and to report crimes by phone or through its official website.

The post states that comments containing offensive, abusive, discriminatory, spam, or other prohibited content may be removed, and users who violate the guidelines may be blocked. The department also notes that comments posted by members of the public do not reflect the views of the Lynn Police Department or the City of Lynn, and that it is not responsible for third-party content or external links shared on its social media pages.

In a statement to The Item, Police Lieutenant Ashley Affonco said there was not a specific interaction that led to the creation of the post: “We do monitor the posts on the website. Occasionally, we do have to hide comments, but usually they are related to spam advertisements.”

She also highlighted posts featuring videos of incidents.

The statement read, “As we really grow with social media, we wanted to let the public know that abuse/misuse of that section is not what the page is for.”