Top NYPD officials were slammed for a series of “hostile” social media posts where they routinely lashed out at politicians, reporters and activists, a scathing new report claims.
NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and an NYPD News account run by public spokespeople for the department acted “irresponsible and unprofessional” and broke citywide policies with a series of wild public takedowns, said the report, released Tuesday by the Department of Investigation.
The clashes included an instance where Chell called a city councilwoman’s tweet “garbage.”
At the request of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams last spring, the DOI’s Office of the Inspector General examined social media posts made on X through official NYPD accounts.
The report said NYPD’s social media policies at the time the posts were made were ill-equipped to ensure posts on executive accounts were “courteous, accurate, and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.”
The probe analyzed more than 10,000 posts made across the three accounts between January 2022 through September 2024 and concluded NYPD used the platform to engage in “direct and sometimes hostile exchanges.”
The report noted most of the posts were “were informative, courteous, and appropriate” but there were some “problematic” posts where NYPD officials expressed opinions bordering on “political discourse” — something NYPD executives are required to avoid.
In one post Chell took a jab at Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, calling her statement criticizing NYPD’s response to pro-Palestinian protestors “garbage.”
“I started to read this garbage and quickly realized this is coming from a person who hates our city and certainly does not represent the great people of NYC,” Chell tweeted about Caban.
In another post, Chell accused a New York Supreme Court Justice who granted a suspect bail of “failing to do her job” by releasing “a predator back into the community, who may be on your next train, or walking the streets of our city, looking for his next victim.”
Daughtry then amplified Chell’s message tweeting “it’s time for another episode of the “Revolving Door of NYC Criminal Justice!”
DOI inspectors said the posts could put the judge “at risk of harm.”
“In light of recent threats of violence, and acts of violence against judges, naming and criticizing an individual justice, and claiming that the justice has created a safety risk to the community could potentially put the justice at risk of harm,” the report noted.
In another post, Chell called a New York Daily News columnist who had issued a retraction after incorrectly reporting the number of subway homicides that year a “gadfly” and nicknamed him “deceitful.”
The journalist, Harry Siegel, responded to ask Chell to speak with him privately about the reporting error. The NYPDNews account responded to show support for Chell’s posts.
At the time Mayor Eric Adams also expressed support for Chell’s posts saying, “I don’t think they attacked anyone, if a columnist has a right to an opinion, a police officer has the right to an opinion,” according to an article in City & State.
A police spokesperson said the NYPD had already made updates to improve its social media policies following the backlash last year.
“We appreciate DOI’s comprehensive report,” an NYPD spokesperson said. “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.”
