On Tuesday, the Portland (Ore.) police responded to a report of an “online threat” at Lewis and Clark College: People saying mean things on social media.

According to a report from the police bureau, the posts in question appeared on the site Yik Yak. It adds that the posts were “general in nature” and that although they “contained racially insensitive terminology and hashtags,” “nothing in [them] represented an immediate threat to the students or staff at the college.”

Now, the the cops ultimately did decide that someone being mean on the Internet did not count as a violation of Oregon law — which initially sounds like a victory for sanity over sensitivity.

But that wasn’t entirely the case.

According to the report, the cops also stated that they were “sensitive to the fact that anonymous and offensive language used on social media can be upsetting and create a general concern about safety,” and that therefore “the Bureau encourages the reporting to law enforcement incidents such as this.”

A report every time someone is mean on the Internet? Whoa. I guess Portland is going to have some busy cops.

I guess it’s worth it, though. After all, reading mean words can be very dangerous, and it’s crucial for law enforcement to remember to stay focused on the most important things.

– Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review.

#share#