“All those responsible for maintaining the rule of law suddenly ignore the law as soon as it is broken by those in power and the mayor’s entourage.”
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
John Chell, chief of patrol for the NYPD, at a press conference in 2023.
Political manipulation by police is nothing new, but the NYPD’s recent social media tactics are so brazen they actually violate the law. Political rants. Call-outs. False claims. In recent months, the department’s top officials have begun using their official social media accounts to attack political rivals and defame members of the public. And in recent days, that pattern reached an all-time low with a blatant attack on prominent police reporter Rocco Parascandola.
The department’s main perpetrator is NYPD patrol chief John Chell. He has repeatedly used his official X-account (formerly Twitter) to attack protesters, politicians and even the press. He absurdly attacked Veteran scandal reporter Harry Siegel for his column in the Daily News and accused him of having “contempt for the NYPD.” He also falsely claimed that accused a judge who was supposed to “release an offender back into society” for a case she never actually presided over. Seeing the head of the largest and most heavily armed police department in the country abuse the city’s resources in this way is upsetting, but when Chell attacked elected officials, the tweets became truly criminal.
Earlier this year, Chell twice attacked Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán in long tirades on X. In March, responding to Cabán’s criticism of Mayor Adams’ threat to reinstate discredited and discriminatory stop-and-frisk tactics, Chell posted an attack on Cabán’s policies that concluded, “If you want change, vote for the change you want.”
In May, Chell responded to Cabán’s condemnation of NYPD violence against protesters. In addition to calling Cabán’s statement “garbage,” Chell ended the post by saying, “Remember, if you want change, seek the change you want by getting involved. Then you’ll know what to do…”
This isn’t some unknown police figure or low-level patrol officer, but one of the highest-ranking uniformed officers in the NYPD, speaking to an audience of more than 45,000 followers of an official New York social media account. And Chell couldn’t have said it more clearly: He was using that giant city megaphone to call on New Yorkers to vote against Cabán in the next election.
And as one of New York City’s top cops, Chell should have been one of the first to know he was probably breaking the law. Chell has complete freedom to use private accounts as she sees fit, but things are different when it comes to official city platforms.
New York State law cracks down on city employees who abuse their authority to influence elections. New York State election law states that police officers who abuse their authority to influence the election can be punished with up to a year in prison. Chell’s statement, including his claim that Cabán “hates our city and certainly does not represent the great people of NYC,” fits that description.
It is also against the New York City Charter for city employees to use their time or resources to engage in political activity. Those convicted not only face jail time, but also lose their city jobs. City employees with fewer political ties than Chell have been found guilty of using city email accounts to send endorsements to their colleagues. Chell not only emailed a few colleagues, but posted publicly to tens of thousands of followers, and his comments were picked up in news stories seen by millions more.
So why has one of New York’s most prominent police officers not faced consequences for committing a crime in broad daylight? District attorneys and the New York Attorney General have stood by in silence; our Conflict of Interest Committee is not interested in taking action. All those charged with upholding the rule of law suddenly ignore the law when it is broken by those in power and the mayor’s entourage.
Not only is this a scary sign for our city, but it’s an alarming indicator of the state of our democracy. When police, sworn to uphold the law, can openly violate it, it doesn’t just bend the rules, it breaks our democracy.
Cahn (@FoxCahn) is the founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a New York-based civil liberties and privacy group. Lynn is a legal intern at STOP and a rising sophomore at Berkeley Law, where she co-directs the Digital Rights Project.
