The Washington County Sheriff’s Office Blocked 710 People on Twitter

When the WCSO spokesman learned about the massive block list, he unblocked all of the accounts.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly delivers remarks at the National Sheriffs’ Association’s Winter Education and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., Feb. 6, 2017. (Department of Honeland Security)
By Katie Shepherd

The Washington County Sheriff's Office had blocked 710 accounts from following or interacting with its official Twitter handle until this week.

Local lawyer Michael Fuller noticed last week that he couldn't see emergency alerts tweeted out by the law enforcement agency. He sent a letter to WCSO asking to be unblocked.

A records request by WW for the full block list revealed that Fuller wasn't the only account that the agency had blocked: 709 other accounts were prevented from following and interacting with the WCSO on Twitter.

That is an unusually high number of blocked accounts among local law enforcement agency Twitter accounts. Neither Portland police nor the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office have blocked anyone on the social media platform, according to responses to WW's records requests.

No one at the agency could explain why the WCSO account, which is now controlled by the public affairs team and spokesman Deputy Jeff Talbot, had blocked so many handles.

But Talbot says it is not the agency's policy to block people because of what they say on the social media platform.

He said the accounts may have been accidentally blocked when the office was still learning how to use Twitter. Most of the blocked accounts were corporate brands like New Seasons Market and Starbucks.

A string of reporters blocked at the same time, including WW's music editor Matthew Singer, suggest someone intentionally blocked some local journalists – but it is impossible to know for sure.

Recent federal court decisions have suggested it is a violation of the first amendment for government-operated accounts to block individuals because of their political views.

Beyond the first amendment questions, when law enforcement agencies block people, the decision has public safety implications. The Washington County Sheriff's Office frequently uses Twitter to share information about crimes and emergencies with the public—but blocked users can't see those warnings.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office says it had unblocked all of the accounts by Monday afternoon.

Here are some of the non-corporate Twitter accounts that were blocked by @WCSheriff:

Willamette Week @wweek

Oregon Public Broadcasting @OPBNews

The Portland Tribune @theportlandtrib

Matthew Singer, WW Music Editor @mpsinger

Nick Krupke, a KPTV reporter @NickKrupke

Chris Liedle, a KATU reporter @Chris Liedle

Reed Andrews, a KATU reporter @ReedKatu

Michael Fuller, a Portland lawyer @underdoglawblog

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