N.Y.P.D. Social Media Attacks Prompt City Council to Seek Investigation

The Council speaker requested an investigation of police officials’ use of social media to attack critics. The mayor’s office asked for an inquiry into a councilman’s behavior.

After weeks of top New York Police Department officials unleashing stinging attacks against their critics, the City Council speaker has asked a city watchdog agency to “urgently conduct” an official investigation into the department’s use of social media.

The request by the speaker, Adrienne Adams, cites a series of personal tirades on the platform X by John Chell, the chief of patrol, against Tiffany Cabán, a democratic socialist councilwoman who represents Astoria in Queens. Mr. Chell has called for the public to be “involved” against Ms. Cabán, and characterized her as a “person who hates our city.”

Ms. Adams said the social media posts may lead to “subsequent threats” to those targeted by police, contain inaccurate information and “veer into political activity or conflict with city laws and policies.”

“A deeply troubling pattern and practice has been established by the N.Y.P.D.’s recent deployment of official social media accounts,” Ms. Adams wrote in the letter to the Department of Investigation that was obtained by The New York Times. “These social media activities have targeted public officials and members of the public with invective that can plainly be construed as intimidating and dangerous.”

The referral by Ms. Adams represents a further erosion in the Council’s relationship with Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who has supported the antagonistic approach taken by some police officials.

Another example also emerged on Friday, when the mayor’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, asked that the Council’s Committee on Standards and Ethics open an investigation into Councilman Lincoln Restler, a frequent critic of the Adams administration.