A Warning to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, and Other Members
The NYPD Is Playing an Extremely Dangerous Game
This post is in response to the Gothamist report about high-ranking members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) doxxing a state Supreme Court judge. Doxxing (also spelled “doxing”), according to the Avast website, “is the act of revealing someone’s personal information online. Doxxing is a form of online harassment that means publicly exposing someone’s real name, address, job, or other identifying info without a victim’s consent. The aim of doxxing is to humiliate, bully, harass, or otherwise harm a victim.”
The officials cited in the report, Chief of Patrol John Chell, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and Chief of Transit Michael Kemper, are urged to exercise extreme caution going forward. They are playing an extremely dangerous game and placing the department and its rank and file at risk.
If the majority of people in this country believe this social media practice is dangerous and wrong, what makes the named NYPD officials think they can get away with it, especially if people are being arrested and prosecuted for online bullying and harassment all over the country? The NYPD has a responsibility to protect and serve the public. Period! However, by posting Acting Supreme Court Justice J. Machelle Sweeting’s name on “X” without her consent, it did the exact opposite. Did Chief Chell forget that a judge was recently shot and killed and many others continue to be threatened? Did he forget that judges handling cases involving the former president have gotten death threats and one just received an envelope containing a white-powdered substance? Whatever the case, Chell decided Judge Sweeting’s life and the lives of those closest to her didn’t matter. He and those who engaged in the doxxing and sharing of the disturbing posts were hell-bent on accomplishing their heinous objective, and their actions were in direct opposition to the NYPD slogan “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect.”
A Prediction: If the aforementioned officials are not careful, they may find themselves engaged in a digital war with hackers who may not only target them, but any officer that might be working in an undercover capacity. Given the increasing number of sophisticated hacking attacks in this country and abroad, the NYPD cannot afford to piss off hackers to the point where the identities or cases of their undercover officers are exposed or compromised. Young people have a term that perfectly sums up this possibility: Fuck around and find out!
If the NYPD’s top brass and patrol officers are going to continue posting the names of judges or anyone they believe poses a threat to their narrative or position regarding crime in New York City, then they all should expect members of the hacking community, particularly those who take issue with what was done to Justice Sweeting, to respond.
Incidentally, Chief Chell told Gothamist that Justice Sweeting had failed to “do her job” and “set free a predator back into the community, who may be on your next train, or walking the streets of our city, looking for his next victim.” Chief Chell? For the record, the same can be said for the NYPD when it comes to abusive, corrupt and rogue police officers.