Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says he's frustrated a wave of social media postings involving the NYPD only highlight the bad actions by a few officers. 

“Right now, there’s an awful lot of momentum being spoken about in a negative way about the police,” said Shea. 

What You Need To Know

  • Police Commissioner Shea says negative social media posts about the NYPD are impacting policing.

  • Shea believes people are afraid to publicly support cops because of potential backlash on social media.

  • The NYPD is posting its own social media with cops thanking officers.

  • Shea says an overwhelming majority of cops are doing a good job.

Amid the recent Black Lives Matter protests, social media postings showed two NYPD cars driving into demonstrators, an officer shoving a woman protester to the ground, and an officer pulling down a man's mask and using pepper spray against him.

In Shea's words, the overwhelming majority of cops are doing God's work and they are being supported. He says it is a problem that few elected officials or community leaders are coming forward to praise cops, even for good deeds during these troubling times. 

“I think right now, people are scared to support the police,” he said.

He said people are scared to publicly support cops because they fear a backlash against them on social media. He also believes social media spreads too many unfounded rumors and false information about the NYPD.  

 

“I could spend 12 hours a day correcting bad Twitter messages,” the commissioner said. 

Shea spoke at a meeting with reporters Wednesday at police headquarters. He repeated comments he made on NY1 Monday, that criminal justice reforms enacted in Albany and at City Hall are at least partly responsible for a surge of shootings in the city.

As for his role, Shea said, “I think the most important thing here is talking. I think my job is to make sure that our voice gets out as well.”

On its own twitter account, the NYPD has been posting people from various communities praising and thanking officers. 

As New York deals with the coronavirus pandemic, ongoing Black Lives Matter protests for police reform and a budget crisis, Shea had this message for the city’s cops. 

“You are in the middle of one of the most difficult times, period. But the people of New York City need you,” he said. “The job is probably right now harder than it ever was with the level of scrutiny, the level of second-guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking.”

The police commissioner stated he didn’t mind critiques or even negative reporting on the NYPD, but he said that’s not the whole story.