Oversight probe into NYPD social media policies begins after police chief rants
Protect and serve or tweet and delete?
The Office of the Inspector General for NYPD (OIG) launched an investigation into the social media conduct and policies of the city police force last week after a series of inflammatory posts from leading department officers targeting department critics.
The probe comes after requests made by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Legal Aid Society, pointing specifically to April 30 posts from NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell over X (formerly known as Twitter) made in the wake of protests at Columbia University. Chell fired off—and later deleted—offenses targeting City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who criticized Columbia University administrators, Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD for raiding and arresting pro-Palestinian students. Chell also accused the councilmember of encouraging criminal activity and suggested that those who wanted change to “seek the change you want by getting involved. Then you know what to do…” Speaker Adams believes such a suggestion implies political activity on an official public servant account, which may violate city policy.
Chell later doubled down in a second post, calling the deletion “an accident” and added that he “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,” in reference to Cabán’s post.
Speaker Adams’s office told the AmNews that it began independently monitoring the NYPD’s social media outbursts late March when Chell went on an X rant against lawyer Olayemi Olurin after her viral Breakfast Club takedown of Mayor Adams. In an April interview, she told the AmNews she welcomed Chell’s posts “because it says this is what they do to journalists and media and attorneys because they do their job. Imagine what they are doing to regular, everyday New Yorkers who critique them.”
Now Speaker Adams questions whether Chell is in violation of rules set for public officials around commentary on political activity. A spokesperson from Speaker Adams’s office said there’s concern that such attacks not only aim to silence Cabán, but undermine trust in police for New Yorkers who identify with her. The Queens councilwoman is a prominent democratic socialist and staunch proponent of abolitionism and decarceration. She also boasts Puerto Rican heritage and is proudly queer.
On May 3, Speaker Adams penned her letter to the OIG requesting an investigation into the NYPD’s social media practices, citing Local Law 70 of 2013 which established the office over a decade ago. She called the posts “unprofessional and unbecoming for public officials,” with concerns that they violated city policy and riled up threats against those named.
The spokesperson for Speaker Adams’s office directed to the NYC Conflict of Interest Board’s political activity outline, which states that “public servants may not use any City time or City resources (including a City computer, email account or phone) for any political purpose.” The OIG investigation would likely determine whether NYPD officials violated such a rule. There’s also hope the probe will bring to light the department’s internal social media policies for high-ranking members on official accounts.
Adams’s letter also pointed to concerns about disinformation, specifically citing Chell misidentifying a judge by name in an accusation of her setting “free 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.” The tweet remains up as of press time.
The Legal Aid Society backed Speaker Adams’s request, calling the police officials’ social media conduct “completely inappropriate for a police department that purports to exude ‘courtesy, professionalism and respect.’”
The OIG, headed by Inspector General Jeanene Barrett, investigates the NYPD’s policies and practices. It cannot, however, discipline individual NYPD members or force the department to implement recommended procedures.
There are more than 250 of these NYPD official social media accounts ranging from police chiefs like Chell to precinct commands. Ownership of the accounts is passed down to whoever assumes the corresponding role, and while officials can delete what their predecessors post, the contents are archived by the Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS). Such accounts typically keep the public informed on anything from arrests and attacks to street closures and events.
During a city council hearing May 14, the NYPD officials did not answer many of Speaker Adams’s questions, including on whether Chell’s post was reviewed before posting, with Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters Michael Gerber saying it was “precisely” one of “the factual issues” she asked DOI to look into and that the department “would respect that process.” Adams took that response as a “no.”
However, the NYPD did reveal that there are six individuals assigned to review social media: a sergeant, a detective, three police officers and a “civilian” employee.
The NYC Department of Investigation (DOI), the parent agency of the OIG, provided a statement confirming the probe but declined to comment further.
“DOI is in receipt of the May 3 letter from the City Council Speaker and the May 6 letter from the Legal Aid Society,” said a spokesperson over email. “In light of the requests, DOI has begun an investigation of the relevant social media use and exchanges, as well as applicable City policies.”
Cabán and NYPD officials were not available for an interview this past week. The PBA, which represents rank-and-file NYPD members under Chell, declined to comment.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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