On Friday, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams requested that the Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD conduct an official investigation and review of the NYPD’s policies, practices, and operations on their use of social media, pursuant to Local Law 70 of 2013. The NYPD’s recent use official social media accounts have targeted public officials and members of the public in ways that can be construed as intimidating, dangerous, and veering into political activity, in conflict with City laws and policies. After submitting the request, Speaker Adams released the following statement:

“The recent deployment of official NYPD social media accounts to aggressively target public officials and civilians in our city, use dog whistles that can lead to threats and violence, and convey inaccurate information, is dangerous, unethical and unprofessional. New Yorkers rely on agency officials to provide essential information, and these latest activities diverge from the department’s core mission and responsibilities. This recent behavior undermines public confidence in the department at a time when public safety requires stronger trust, and sends a bad message to the rank-and-file officers of our city simply wanting to perform their basic duties. In addition to supporting the investigation of NYPD Chief of Patrol’s Chell’s posts for violating city laws that prohibit the use of city resources for political purposes, I have requested that the Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD urgently conduct an official investigation and review that produces a subsequent report on the NYPD’s policies, practices, and operations related to its use of social media.”

###