The NYPD is using social media to target critics. That brings its own set of worries

NEW YORK — The first “NYPD: Most Wanted” video was meant to be intimidating. “We want to go on social media and push back on the misinformation that’s out there,” Tarik Sheppard, the NYPD’s top spokesperson, said in an interview. Three men are hauled away in handcuffs, described by Kaz Daughtry, the deputy commissioner of operations, as “migrants preying on vulnerable New Yorkers.” Zachary Tumin, a former NYPD official who oversaw the rollout of social media accounts to precinct commanders and chiefs beginning in 2015, said police officials were initially instructed to maintain a positive tone. The NYPD’s new social strategy will soon extend beyond written posts and short video clips, moving into what Sheppard described as “long-form YouTube.” In the coming months, he said, the department will resume production of a short-lived series, “True Blue: NYPD’s Finest,” that premiered last year without much attention. The previous two episodes of the series relied heavily on body-worn camera footage of dramatic pursuits narrated by police officials, resembling a municipally crafted version of the long-running TV series “Cops.” Michael Hallett, a professor of criminology at the University of North Florida who studied the effects of “Cops,” said he viewed the NYPD’s forays into social media as a natural response to a digital media ecosystem that rewards speed and sensationalism.