Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan has taken decisive action after the city council voted to open an independent investigation into how its police department obtained a controversial search warrant.

The Fall River City Council’s decision was brought on by a recent Fall River Reporter story that revealed the police department had used a search warrant to find the identity of someone making critical comments on social media.

The Fall River Police Department defended its actions in a lengthy statement posted last week, saying the Facebook comments made by “Timothy James” publicly identified an officer working on an undercover task force and placed that officer’s safety at risk.