Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the city of Austin shutdown a Twitter account that impersonated an Austin police officer.
Someone using the account "AustinPD" had hundreds of followers before it was closed last week.
Postings on the site featured fictitious updates about purportedly official APD activities, status and statistics. For example, one posting claimed that APD officers would be "making more stops" at this year's South By Southwest festival.
"Impersonating authorities and posting false information about law enforcement activities poses real problems for both peace officers and citizens who are unknowingly relying upon inaccurate facts," Abbott said. "By working closely with the Austin Police Department and the City Attorney's Office, we were able to prevent the site from continuing to publish fabricated information about official law enforcement activities."
Responding to requests from both the Texas Attorney General and City Attorney's Office, Twitter suspended the account.
The page currently shows the message, "Sorry, the account you were headed to has been suspended due to strange activity. Mosey along now, nothing to see here."
