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External Link Policy

The Washington State Patrol (WSP) provides links to Internet sites and data maintained by third parties. These links are provided as a courtesy and convenience to you. WSP does not operate or control any of these sites, and cannot be responsible for their content or availability. Moreover, in no way should an external link be considered any form of endorsement by the WSP.  The WSP permits the establishment of links to external websites on the WSP official website solely in conformance with the WSP Website Administration and Governance Policy and Linking Policy. The WSP official website is a limited public forum.

At its discretion, the WSP may provide links to external sites that fall into one of the following categories:
• Other governmental agencies (.gov domains)
• Other municipalities (official municipal .us domains)
• S. Military (.mil domains)
• WSP generated pages on social media websites
• Other governmental agency social media sites
• Non-Government Organizations that have a strategic partnership with the WSP including the Washington State Patrol Memorial Foundation.

Generally, external content does not meet the purposes of the WSP Website if the content contains, suggests, or infers any of the items below. This list is non-exclusive:
• Websites representing for-profit businesses (.com, .biz or any other commercial top-level domains) or sell, advertise, or exchange any goods or services unless expressly allowed
• Promoting or exhibiting hate, bias, discrimination, pornography; libelous or otherwise defamatory content
• Post any information that is abusive, harassing, threatening, obscene, or racially, sexually, religiously otherwise objectionable and offensive or violates the legal rights of others
• Associated with, sponsored by or serving a candidate for elected office, any political party or organization supporting or seeking to defeat any candidate for elective office or any ballot proposal
• Violating any of the WSP equal opportunity or norms and values policies
• Individual or personal home pages
• Disparaging or promoting any person or class of persons
• Material not suitable for readers or viewers of all ages
• Promoting or inciting illegal, violent, or socially undesirable conduct
• Promotion or availability of alcohol or tobacco products
• Promotion or availability of legal or illegal drugs
• Promotion or availability of adult or sexually oriented entertainment or materials
• Promotion, opposition, or availability of weapons
• Promotion, opposition, or availability of gambling
• Content that infringes on any trademark, copyright, or patent rights of another
• Content that a reasonable citizen may not consider to maintain the dignity and decorum appropriate for government
• Furthering the non-charitable agenda of a labor union
• Misrepresent one’s person, background, or character
• Post any material owned by a third party
• Interfere with any other person’s right to privacy, including posting private, personal information about a third party without consent
• Post any content that is off topic
• Post content that violates any law, whether or not the violation is intentional

Communications on this website may be moderated. Comments, posts, and communications that violate the above will be removed, and offending individuals may be denied future access to the website.

Removal of External Link from WSP Website

The WSP reserves the right to immediately and without notice to any person or organization remove any External Link if:
• The nature of the organization or business to which the link relates no longer complies with the WSP’s External Link Policy
• That no longer points to the original information or resource to which it was intended to point
• If entities’ website parallels any of the above examples of websites the WSP will not link to), or incorrect information at any time
• Access to the information has become difficult due to non-standard formatting, lengthy download times, or intrusive advertising
• The website is permanently unreachable or remains unavailable for a lengthy period

To revise this Policy without prior notice when to do so is deemed to be in the best interests of the WSP.

Link Oversight and Monitoring

The WSP shall establish procedures to monitor the implementation and continuing oversight of this policy.

These procedures shall include:
• A process to review all new requests for links from a WSP Webpage to another webpage to ensure compliance with this policy prior to granting the request; and
• A yearly review of not less than seven (7) percent or a quantity of thirty-five (35) of the then current external content links, whichever is less, to ensure that such links still comply with this policy.

Location and Appearance of External Links

The WSP reserves the right to determine how and where External Links will appear on its website; i.e. what page the link appears on and where the link is placed on the page.

Copyright/Trademark

The WSP logo is a trademark of the State of Washington. Any use of the materials stored on the WSP website is prohibited without the written permission of the WSP. The WSP retains all intellectual property rights including copyrights on all text, graphic images and other content. This means that the following acts or activities are prohibited without prior, written permission from the WSP:
• Modification and/or re-use text, images or other website content from a WSP server
• Distribution of the WSP website content
• “Mirroring” the WSP information on a non-WSP server.

Third Party Materials

Some materials and information used on the WSP website were generated by third parties who have consented to the WSP use or placement of such materials on this site. These materials are owned by those parties. Use of these third party materials for any purpose is prohibited. Persons seeking to use or modify third party materials for any purpose should contact the owner of such materials directly. These materials include icons and graphics used in links to other organizations’ sites, as well as various items of general content.

Links to the WSP Website

Advance permission to link to the WSP Website is not necessary. However, the organization linking to the WSP website should understand that content and internal web links may change at any time without notice.

Disclaimer of warranty; limitation of liability

WSP attempts to provide the best service available, but situations will occur that disrupt service or cause inaccurate information to be posted. The material presented on this website is not guaranteed as to accuracy, completeness, reliability, usefulness, or timeliness. The provision of the website depends on a number of items, including Internet availability, communications networks, and computer equipment which are beyond the control of WSP and difficult to predict. The information on this website is not intended to constitute advice nor is it to be used as a substitute for specific advice from a professional. You should not act (or refrain from acting) based upon the information on this website without independently verifying the information and, as necessary, obtaining professional advice regarding your particular facts and circumstances. Those relying on information presented on this website do so at their own risk. You assume the risk that the information provided may be incorrect, as well as the risk that any information or material downloaded by you may cause loss of data or damage to your computer systems and neither WSP, nor any of its officials, employees or agents shall be liable for either the accuracy of this information or any actions taken based on the information. WSP does not represent that the use of any information will not infringe privately owned rights.

All information on this website is provided “as is”, “with all faults” and “as available” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement nor shall the distribution of this information constitute any warranty. WSP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the information or software or other documents which are referenced by or linked to this website. To the fullest extent permissible under applicable law, under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall WSP, its officials and employees, or any contributor to this website be liable for any direct or indirect damages, even if both parties are aware of the possibility of such damages, including without limitation loss of profits or for any other incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, however caused, whether based upon contract, negligence, strict liability in tort, warranty, or any other legal theory, arising out of or related to your use of, or the inability to use, this website or its content. WSP is not responsible for or liable for any damage, including damage caused by viruses, to your computer, computer system, or other property, during or on account of access or use of this website or any sites to which this website provides links. We welcome feedback on the website but provide no guarantee that feedback will result in site changes. If you are dissatisfied in any way with any of these terms of use, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue use of this website.