Investigation finds mocking tweets from NYPD brass violated policy

Yahoo

28-01-2025

NEW YORK — The City's Department of Investigation found top police officials violated the NYPD's social media policy when they penned posts attacking journalists, a judge and an elected official.
'New York City deserves public officials who use social media responsibly, to communicate accurate information and to prompt respectful dialogue on issues of importance to the community, and not as a means to ridicule those with whom they disagree,' DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said in a statement. 'No aspect of the social media exchanges that DOI reviewed in this investigation served the public.'
DOI's inspector general for the NYPD examined social media posts made on X through August by now-Chief of Department John Chell, Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry and the NYPD's general X account.
The probe, which was launched after a complaint from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, outlined several instances of problematic behavior.
In February, Chell wrote that a Supreme court judge 'set free a predator back into the community, who may be on your next train, or walking the streets of our city.'
DOI noted that Chell — in addition to naming the wrong judge — potentially put the jurist in harm's way with his rhetoric. A reply to Chell's tweet read: 'This is sickening. I wonder where the judge resides.'
Chell also engaged in a heated back and forth with an attorney who grilled New York City Mayor Eric Adams on an episode of The Breakfast Club, a widely syndicated radio program, at one point challenging her to meet him on Long Island for the funeral of a fallen NYPD officer.
He also repeatedly mocked a Daily News columnist for printing an incorrect homicide statistic in a piece critical of the NYPD's subway safety efforts before correcting the error. At one point, the NYPD X account coined a Trumpian nickname for the scribe, calling him 'Harry 'Deceitful' Siegel.'
'The problem is that besides your flawed reporting is the fact that now we are calling you and your 'latte' friends out on their garbage,' Chell wrote.
The high-ranking police officer also appeared to encourage voters to go against a left-leaning member of the City Council who was critical of the way the administration policed protests of the Israel-Gaza war at New York City Universities.
The report found the NYPD's social media policy was out of sync with citywide policy and that individual members like Chell and Daughtry strayed from the oversight of the department's press shop. The investigation did not, however, reach a conclusion on whether the posts constituted prohibited political activity.
'We appreciate DOI's comprehensive report,' the police department said in a statement. 'As the report notes, the NYPD has already made significant changes to its social media practices. We look forward to reviewing the report and recommendations.'
While DOI noted the problematic posts subsided after the start of the probe, investigators also wrote the mayor expressed support for Chell's conduct. Not only did the mayor suggest publicly that the conduct of council members and others also be taken into account during any investigation, he explicitly said the NYPD has a right to their own opinions.
DOI's inspector general for the NYPD, Jeanene Barrett, did not agree with how those opinions were expressed.
'It is inappropriate for NYPD to use its platform to target and demean journalists, elected officials, and other members of the public,' Barrett said in a statement. 'The measures NYPD has taken to improve oversight and depersonalize interactions reflect steps in the right direction; however, consistent oversight is key.'