NYPD grilled by City Council over ‘unprofessional’ social media posts, soaring OT amid as anti-Israel protests

City Council leaders grilled the NYPD Thursday over “dangerous, unethical, unprofessional” social media posts by top officials — as well as $168 million in unplanned overtime costs including policing anti-Israel protests and migrant shelters.

The heated proceedings played out after the city Department of Investigation this week confirmed it had opened a probe into posts by department brass at the request of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Legal Aid Society.

“These posts can often convey inaccurate or misleading information and could potentially incite threats of violence,” Adams, no relation to Mayor Eric Adams, said.

“This conduct is dangerous, unethical, unprofessional because included in the department’s mission is to preserve peace, protect the people and reduce fear at the preliminary budget.”

The posts in question include NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell’s controversial jab at Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban calling her online criticism of the department “garbage.”

The council speaker said Chell’s since-deleted retort to Caban’s critique of a city agency was potentially “a horrifying affront to democracy” that could “be misinterpreted and lead to threats.”

Adams also took the department to task over the NYPD overtime tab.

As of March, the department spent about $788 million in overtime during the 2024 fiscal year — almost $271 million over budget, the council leader said.

“Repeated overspending beyond the allocated budget raises concerns about agency and fiscal management and accurate budgeting,” Adams said.

Police Commissioner Edward Caban said NYPD spending was down 8% from pre-pandemic years, and attributed $160 million in additional overtime primarily to “migrant shelter security, enhanced translation and deployment of protests.”

“These are unprecedented events, which no one could have planned for,” the top cop said. “And as a result, spending for these activities is outside of our adopted financial plan baseline.”

When asked for figures on protest funding Deputy Commissioner, Management and Budget, Deirdre Snyder confirmed to Speaker Adams that $53 million has been spent solely on protests as well as 677,000 hours.

The NYPD has more than 250 social media accounts that department higher-ups, including precinct commanders, have control of — which the council said are intended to inform the public, not inflame tensions with elected officials.

Chell and other department brass have used the online platform as a weapon to fight back against perceived anti-cop policies pushed by the council, including the controversial “How Many Stops” initiative that bogged cops down in excessive paperwork.

“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,” Chell wrote in his missive about Caban, who had criticized the NYPD’s response to anti-Israeli demonstrators on the Columbia University campus, when cops in riot gear cleared students and arrested more than 100.

“Last night’s authoritarian conduct by Columbia University administrators and Mayor Adams’ NYPD were a colossal disgrace, a horrifying affront to democracy and free speech,” Caban’s post on X read. “And an abject failure of public safety.”

Speaker Adams interrogated NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters Michael Gerber about Chell’s response during a blistering back-and-forth at the council budget hearing.

“Do you feel the post was appropriate?” Adams pressed.

Gerber repeatedly noted it was “critical” that the DOI probe into the posts be allowed to play out, and said the department was being “fully cooperative” with the investigation.

“Do you feel the post was appropriate?” Adams then asked Police Commissioner Edward Caban.

“I’m gonna be the arbitrator of discipline. So at this time, I cannot comment,” Caban said, before Gerber reiterated “It is important that an investigation be allowed to play out in fairness for everyone involved.”

In a letter on Monday, the Legal Aid Society backed Adams’ request for a DOI probe, and also accused the NYPD of using social media “unprofessionally and unethically” to discredit pro-Palestinian protesters at local colleges.

They pointed to the X posts from Chell and NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry after the department cleared campus encampments last week.

One post from Daughtry — which was cited in the letter — noted “a book on TERRORISM” was found at Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, saying it was among items — also including ear plugs, helmets, goggles, knives and ropes — that were “not the tools of students protesting” but rather of “people working on something nefarious.”

Meanwhile in February, several NYPD chiefs faced criticism from the state court system after misidentifying a judge in a social media post that accused the jurist of letting a “predator” loose on the city’s streets.

At the time — and before the court’s response — NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard said he “fully supported” the decision to condemn judges, adding that the practice would continue in the future.

Chell, Daughtry and Sheppard were noticeably absent from Thursday’s council hearing.

Council sources said lawmakers were told on Monday that the trio intended to attend, but weren’t given a heads up about their ultimate absence.

An NYPD spokesperson said in a statement that the department was “more than adequately represented by the topmost executives.”

“The NYPD’s Chief of Patrol, the Deputy Commissioner of Operations, and the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information were best utilized today to address other urgent, day-to-day issues affecting New Yorkers,” the statement said.