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.
Ms. Zornberg accused Mr. Restler of harassment and “inexcusable conduct” during a Council hearing where he criticized administration officials who were not present, including Timothy Pearson, a special adviser to the mayor who has been accused of harassment in two separate lawsuits.
The Council has also indicated it will try to block Mayor Adams’s expected nomination of Randy Mastro as the city’s next corporation counsel, setting the stage for a contentious showdown. And in January, the Council overrode the mayor’s vetoes on two criminal justice bills — the first override of a Democratic mayor since 1991.
Representatives for Mayor Adams and the Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chief Chell’s most recent attack against Ms. Cabán came after she criticized the police for the arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters at City College and Columbia University.
“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,” the chief wrote on X. “Remember everyone, if you want change, seek the change you want by getting involved,” he added.
Ms. Adams spoke with the Police Department and Mayor Adams on Thursday afternoon, and the post was deleted. Later, police officials said it was mistakenly deleted and Chief Chell reposted the attack, writing: “Like I said it was an accident … I’m back!!!!”
Police officials also challenged Olayemi Olurin, a lawyer and political commentator, to attend the funeral of an officer killed in the line of duty after she debated the mayor about his public safety policies on a radio show.
This week, Chief Chell criticized another Daily News reporter, calling him “irresponsible” with biased views of the police department to “get clicks.”
The chief’s attacks on Ms. Cabán were cited on Friday in a letter to Mayor Adams from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Brad Lander, the city comptroller; Ms. Cabán and Representative Jamaal Bowman, among more than 35 additional elected officials. The letter characterized the chief’s remarks about Ms. Cabán “undemocratic, illegal, dangerous and false.”
“We call on you to discipline Chief Chell and to make clear that senior N.Y.P.D. officials may not utilize their official city platforms for personal attacks on elected officials,” said the letter, which was reported by The Daily News.
Chief Chell has been steadfast in his social media strategy, telling business leaders last month that he wanted “to give the public the right story” and “lay out the facts — good, bad and indifferent — and let the public decide.”
Mayor Adams has said he approves of the chief’s message.
“If a columnist has a right to an opinion, a police officer shouldn’t have a right to his opinion?” the mayor said last month. Asked why he hasn’t publicly criticized police officials, the mayor responded, “You don’t chastise your people in public. You praise them in public and chastise them in private.”
Ms. Cabán said Chief Chell’s rhetoric was dangerous and was part of a pattern of the department’s unwillingness to be held accountable for its actions.
“It not only threatens our democracy,” Ms. Cabán said in an interview, “but our safety as well.”
