Dangerous, unethical and unprofessional’: Police tweet attacking Queens pol prompts speaker’s scorn and investigation
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City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams questioned NYPD leadership over a number of controversial tweets sent out by top police officials in recent weeks during a Council budget hearing on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Photo by John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
By Jacob Kaye
Top NYPD officials had very little to say Thursday when questioned by the City Council about a series of antagonistic social media posts authored by some of the department's top brass in recent weeks.
Despite the outspoken posts made by a number of the NYPD’s leadership team on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and his deputies were relatively mum when scrutinized for the posts by a visibly frustrated City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams during a Council budget hearing on Thursday.
The speaker, who also questioned NYPD officials on their social media posts in a previous budget hearing earlier this year, blasted police leadership for allowing the posts to continue, despite months of protest from lawmakers.
“These posts can often convey inaccurate or misleading information and could potentially incite threats of violence,” the speaker said on Thursday. “This conduct is dangerous, unethical, unprofessional, because included in the department's mission is to preserve peace.”
Though Adams said that she took issue in general with NYPD leadership expressing personal opinions on their official government social media pages, she appeared to be particularly incensed by one tweet in particular – a post sent by NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell directed at Queens City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who has no relation to the police commissioner.
The tweet by Chell, who was scheduled to appear at the hearing but did not show, prompted a long back and forth between the NYPD and a number of councilmembers at the start of the month and on Wednesday, the Department of Investigation unveiled that the tweet and potentially several others were the subject of an investigation.
Citing the investigation, NYPD officials declined to answer virtually all of the speaker’s questions regarding the NYPD’s recent X proclivity.
Michael Gerber, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of legal matters, rebuffed nearly each of the questions lobbed at those testifying regarding the posts.
At one point during the hearing, Adams began to direct her questions to Commissioner Caban, who, up until that point, had been allowing Gerber to answer on his behalf. Though he began to answer, Caban was cut off by the attorney, prompting a rebuke from Adams.
“The commissioner leads this department,” the speaker said to Gerber. “I feel that was a very appropriate question for the leader of the NYPD to respond to this body.”
‘Horrifying affront to democracy’
NYPD attorney Michael Gerber (left) declined to answer a number of questions about a number of controversial tweets sent out by top police officials, some of which are under investigation by the city’s Department of Investigation. Photo by John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
Social media use among NYPD leadership began to shift earlier this year, when Chell sent out a tweet condemning a New York Supreme Court justice for releasing an alleged repeat offender on bail.
Chell’s tweet, which named the judge, caused a firestorm. It was picked up by media outlets, and posters online also began piling on the jurist.
However, Chell got a number of his facts wrong. Not only had wrongly said that the case had taken place in Manhattan – it was in the Bronx – but he misidentified the judge.
Nonetheless, Chell stuck by his tweet, claiming that it was only his comments on the failure of bail reform that matter.
Chell’s tweet appeared to mark the start of an escalation of the NYPD’s use of its over 200 social media accounts, some of which are managed directly by top police officials, including Chell’s.
In the weeks and months that followed, the NYPD sent out a number of tweets targeting journalists, lawmakers and others, often engaging in back and forths that appeared to escalate the various arguments.
At the start of May, Councilmember Cabán sent out a tweet criticizing the NYPD’s use of force against pro-Palistinan protesters on a number of college campuses across the city.
“Last night’s authoritarian conduct by Columbia University administrators and Mayor [Eric] Adams’ NYPD were a colossal disgrace, a horrifying affront to democracy and free speech, and an abject failure of public safety,” the Queens lawmaker said in her post.
Though a vast majority of Cabán’s tweet was directed at Columbia University leaders, Chell responded, calling Cabán’s message “garbage,” and referring to the elected official as “a person who hates our city and certainly does not represent the great people of NYC.”
He then copied and pasted Cabán’s message, replacing a number of nouns so that the message condemned the protesters.
“Last night's criminal conduct by entitled non accountable students and the support they receive from Councilmember Tiffany Caban is a colossal disgrace,” Chell said. “A horrifying affront to democracy and proper behavior from people who are not accountable for their behavior.”
Chell signed off his message by urging his readers to “seek the change you want by getting involved.”
“Then you know what to do,” his tweet ended.
On Thursday, Adams asked NYPD leadership what Chell meant by the tweet’s ending.
“City law prohibits the use of city resources for political purposes,” the speaker said. “That seems to be conveying a political message, and potentially even worse, a message that could be misinterpreted and lead to threats.”
In response, Gerber declined to answer, expressing a desire not to compromise the DOI investigation, which was launched at Adams’ request.
“It's important and necessary that we allow that investigation, that inquiry to play out as an independent investigation as requested by you,” he said.
