Colón’s Corner: Memo To NYPD Brass: Grow Up
Why the NYPD’s top brass needs to stop their social media silliness
It was a heartbreaking week of loss for the New York City Police Department. Then-Officer Jonathan Diller, since posthumously promoted to the rank of First Grade Detective as is custom by the NYPD to honor members killed in the line of duty, was shot dead by a low life with 21 prior arrests during a traffic stop in Queens.
A similar scene repeated itself, the somber sound of bag pipes, blue mourning bands, and a funeral procession that with each step towards the cemetery where the officer will be buried marks the end of another life cut much too short.
Yet I saw something that truly rankled me. I’ve been seeing it for some time, but this week given the circumstances of the department, it was an especially bothersome sight to witness.
"Just what I thought! Meet me in Massapequa tomorrow morning @ 10 am to say goodbye to a 31-year-old husband, father, son, and brother. A young man who was trying to protect NYC and uphold his oath he swore to. A man who fought to save his partners, the community of Far Rockaway, and ultimately gave his life for. The very man you dismissed today as his family, city and country weep for. Let’s talk!" Mr. Chell tweeted in response to anti-police activist.
No. No, no, no. I’m not going to dignify the individual Mr. Chell is responding to, but long story short, they are another in a long line of people who have emerged as top voices in the absurd anti-police movement. The politics of it all is not what I aim to touch on in this column. It’s the maturity or lack thereof in how top NYPD brass chooses to respond and the ill-timing of their responses this week.
He’s wrong and extremely immature for both responding in the first place, and secondly, choosing this week of all weeks to have a twitter-fight. This week was supposed to be about highlighting the good officer and person Jonathan Diller was and supporting his family, especially his widow and 1-year old son who will never get to know his dad. Mr. Chell instead saw it fit to continue the brass’ pattern of needlessly aggressive and quite frankly, embarrassing responses to critics.
In previous years, the different iterations of department leadership cores around during the social media age would generally avoid any sort of altercation altogether. Though present across various platforms, they were strictly used as a means to put out general information about arrests, community outreach events, and updates on severe weather events or other critical incidents. It was a simple and concise formula that was befitting of a professional agency rich in history and what’s more is that it was working. Outside of those posts, no attention was being paid to NYPD social accounts, the focus rightly remained on the grunt work the rank and file were doing to keep the streets clean.
If someone who wasn’t a fan of the department chose to level criticism and question their abilities to fight crime, the response to refute such nonsensical drivel was always a straightforward recount of the CompStat sheets which showed crystal clear how well the rank-and-file were doing. An unstated way of saying each time: ‘Why bother fighting when the numbers are so clearly on our side?’ The proof in statistics, it was all the ammo needed to combat any bologna narratives.
Yet, as of late, the NYPD has apparently been seeking their social media advice from high school kids, as evidenced by their childlike postings that read more like they're from the fingertips of a 16-year-old sophomore than those in charge of one of the largest police departments in the world and one tasked with keeping a city of 8 million people safe at that. Besides the post highlighted above, here are some other recent examples.
"Hi Talia! - just so you know, it’s illegal to block the street, which is why cops are making sure it’s clear of pedestrians. We have these wonderful places called “sidewalks” where believe it or not, you can walk safely and even protest if you want. Amazing!" foolishly tweeted NYPD Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey in response to a known anarchist.
Embattled NYPD Chief of Transit Mike Kemper called out Harry Siegel of the New York Daily News by name in his latest tirade.
And the ever in way over his head Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry decided to follow up Mr. Chell's embarrassingly childish remarks with an immature rant of his own.
In life, you cannot have rabbit ears. Speaking from my experience as a child bullied in school, one of the reasons I suffered as much as I did was because I could never simply just ignore the insults being hurled my way. Whenever I chose to respond, which was just about always, I was giving those bullies the attention they wanted, and more so, power and control over me. Difference is however, I was a little kid lacking in maturity because I did not have the life experience yet. These are grown men.
Furthermore, in leadership positions, it is especially important to not have rabbit ears. The pitfalls are obvious, at least to everyone but NYPD top brass and the cronies they have handling their social media. A poor representation of your agency, a poor representation of yourself, and a needless amplification of the voices of folks not out for societal betterment but their own instant gratification is just some of the ways constant cat fighting and responses like the ones listed here (and many more we do not have time to list) serve to undermine both reputation and credibility.
Yet, if we can recognize that, why can’t the brass? Look, I know that 99% of these posts are coming from the fingertips of some young cop who does not know any better, does not have the right people guiding them, and wants to advance their young career by getting into the good graces of the superiors they work for. I can forgive that to an extent. But what I cannot forgive is why these so-called Chiefs and Commissioners who should know better do not verify what it is that their underlings are posting nor do anything to refine the posts to sound professional as opposed to sounding like they are coming from a TikTok influencer.
In apparently trying to keep up with the times of modern media trends, they instead come off as the dad that is trying way too hard to be hip so as to better understand his teenage children. What should not be lost too is how of much of a slap in the face this is to past and true leaders of the NYPD. Do you think Lou Anemone, John Timoney, Jack Maple, Joe Dunne, Joe Esposito, Bill Bratton, Howard Safir, or Ray Kelly would post anything like this tomfoolery from Mr. Chell?
Per the Associated Press: “The section of the NYPD’s administrative guide dealing with department social media accounts is not available online. Under the patrol guide, uniformed police — a group including chiefs — are prohibited from publicly expressing opinions about “any public policy matter or legislation pending before any government body.”
There it is in plain English. And it’s a more than acceptable and prudent standard. But as is the case with all standards, it must be applied universally. Otherwise, it’s a double standard. Clearly with the impunity and gall in which the upper echelon makes these posts while other members cannot show how top brass views themselves and worse yet, how they view the rules. In life you have two types of examples, good ones and bad ones. The NYPD’s upper command these days sadly fit the latter category. And this week of all weeks may have been their most shameful and unbecoming display yet. To the petulant children that sadly define top management these days, I say this: grow up.
Mike Colón is the host of the Mic’d In New Haven Podcast which can be found on all podcast platforms and is simulcast in video form on YouTube
