I sent the following e-mail to the publicly listed page administrator, and copied the police department, mayor and city council members. Below is the content of the e-mail.
Ms. Schneck,
I obtained your e-mail address from the link below, which is the policy regarding the the City of Chaska Police Department's Facebook page.
http://www.chaskamn.com/police/411/Face ... policy.pdf
On February 4th, the following story was posted to your Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/ChaskaPoliceDep ... 7657736510
It's a story regarding Chief Knight's participation in a discussion on gun control. I replied to the story and asked where Chief Knight's stood on the topic. I'm a firearms instructor, hunter, and gun enthusiast. Obviously the recent discussions and legislation have been of great importance to me, which is what prompted my question in response to your story.
I received no response to my question. A couple of days later I posted again, giving the benefit of the doubt that it was possibly missed by person(s) responsible for the page. A couple days passed with no response and I sent a message via Facebook with the direct link to my questions. Not surprisingly, I did not receive a response.
This morning I saw a story you posted regarding an upcoming seat belt clinic (thank you for doing those by the way). When I clicked on your page to read the post, I noticed that my comments from a few days earlier had now been deleted. I still have not received a public or private response to my queries.
In an attempt to receive a response, I posted the following to your page this morning:
Why are comments and questions from the general public (hint: the people you serve) being ignored and deleted? You posted more than one story about Chief Knight's efforts to work on the gun violence concerns both nationally and locally. I simply asked where he stood on the issue. Why is that difficult or controversial for you to respond to? If Chief Knight isn't willing to publicly share his views, then why is he participating in these committees? I await your response but am not holding my breath.
My reason for writing you today is not as a gun owner or activist (although I feel they are doing critical work right now), but as a citizen and a police officer. As a police officer I'm disgusted by the way Chief Knight has leveraged his position within your small suburban community for his own political agenda. I worry that your agency, or more specifically Chief Knight, has forgotten that you serve the citizens of your community and the State of Minnesota. I find it embarrassing that, while working in the capacity of a public servant, staff from your office would so blatantly and rudely ignore a legitimate inquiry by the general public.
I've read your public policy regarding the Chaska Police Department's Facebook page. While I understand the need to moderate conversation to filter out vulgarity and keep things civil, I in no way violated that policy or posted anything that could be viewed by any objective person as questionable.
I'll state my questions one final time.
1) What is Chief Knight's position on gun control and the current legislation?
2) Why is the City of Chaska refusing to respond and deleting legitimate questions and concerns on their publicly funded Facebook page, staffed by public employees?
Thank you in advance for your response.
I'll doubt I'll be looked favorably upon should I someday choose to apply for employment with the Chaska Police Department. Oh well.
