The best-ranking uniformed officer within the NYPD, Chief of Division John Chell, has informed members of his workplace that he’s retiring with beneath three months to go in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, based on present and former NYPD sources.
The transfer marks the top of the 31-year profession of a generally polarizing determine who as Chief of Division oversaw a decline in crime this 12 months that mirrored nationwide tendencies whereas taking sturdy public stands in favor of aggressive policing ways.
As a visual public face for the division beneath Adams, Chell made dozens of tv appearances whereas lashing on the market and on social media at elected officers, judges and journalists he noticed as “anti-police.” Town’s Division of Investigation would later characterize these posts as “unprofessional.”
Chell appeared in his NYPD uniform at a Donald Trump presidential marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard and extra not too long ago traveled with a colleague to New Jersey for a personal golf outing with the president.
Throughout the division, he’s been hailed by some for his intense work ethic whereas others have raised questions concerning the dangerous penalties of his typically aggressive method to policing.
Most notably, as Chief of Patrol from late 2022 to late 2024, Chell oversaw a change in follow that directed officers to pursue fleeing automobiles extra typically.
“People thinking they can take off on us, those days are over,” Chell declared that July.
NYPD Chief of Division John Chell oversees the arrest of protesters in Trump Tower, March 13, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
That shift led to an almost sixfold surge in police pursuits in the course of the first six months of 2023 — and a pointy improve in harmful and generally lethal collisions with automobiles and pedestrians.
The next 12 months noticed greater than a collision a day on common related to the pursuits, based on NYPD information. Total in 2023 and 2024, car pursuits resulted in 20 deaths and a whole bunch of accidents to suspects, cops, and harmless bystanders alike, the info exhibits. Lawsuits stemming from these incidents are nonetheless winding their means by way of courts.
Chell and former NYPD official Kaz Daughtry, now Adams’ deputy mayor for public security, had launched and oversaw the unit liable for lots of the pursuits, the Group Response Workforce (CRT).
The unit had a popularity for forceful enforcement of high quality of life points similar to faux license plates and unlawful scooters throughout town, but in addition was discovered by town’s Division of Investigation to don’t have any written insurance policies, procedures or tips — and no required coaching for its members.
It operated within the shadows beneath Chell and Daughtry to such an extent that interim police commissioner Thomas Donlon asserted in a lawsuit he filed this 12 months in opposition to Adams, Chell and different prime NYPD leaders alleging a conspiracy to advance their pursuits on the expense of the general public that he wasn’t briefed on its operations as soon as throughout his three-month tenure.
“The secrecy was deliberate,” Donlon alleged in his lawsuit. “CRT was used to harass, injure, and violate the rights of civilians, particularly in communities of color, with no regard for constitutional safeguards.”
Adams and a former NYPD official responded to the lawsuit by suggesting Donlon’s psychological acuity had been deteriorating.
Chell was promoted to chief of division on Jan. 1 by Commissioner Jessica Tisch. He changed Jeffrey Maddrey, Chell’s good friend and mentor who resigned final December amid allegations by a former underling that he had coerced sexual favors from her in trade for time beyond regulation.
Maddrey has denied the allegations whereas acknowledging having had an “office fling.”
As the highest uniformed cop, Chell has overseen a 4% decline from January by way of September in most main crimes in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months. This features a 17% drop within the homicide price, mirroring a nationwide pattern, however there has additionally been a 19% improve in reported rapes.
His work has earned him reward from Tisch and Adams, who in July thanked Chell and Daughtry “for being up at 2, 3, 4 a.m. in the morning responding to crisis after crisis, going after people who want to hurt and harm working-class people.”
In January, Tisch revised the NYPD’s method to car pursuits, proscribing chases to cases the place suspects are believed to have dedicated severe crimes.
A Bumpy Trajectory
Two retired NYPD members who’ve labored carefully with Chell informed THE CITY few folks love the job of policing greater than he does.
“You’re not going to get anybody who worked as hard, who cared as much as he does, who worked the number of hours as he did,” considered one of them stated. THE CITY granted them anonymity to allow them to talk freely.
However they stated Chell modified as he climbed the ranks, changing into unpredictable and harsh when underlings made errors — regardless of having his personal checkered historical past of misconduct.
They and plenty of different former NYPD members say Chell breezed previous two main incidents throughout his profession that might have been job-killers for different members of the power.
In 2008, Chell shot an unarmed 25-year-old within the again following a car pursuit in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Chell claimed his gun had gone off by accident when Ortanzso Bovell, who the cops believed was driving a stolen car, backed the automotive towards Chell and knocked him down.
However a civil jury in Brooklyn rejected that declare, calling the taking pictures intentional and awarding Bovell’s household $2.5 million in 2017, which was later lowered beneath a settlement with town to $1.5 million.
NYPD Chief of Division John Chell attends a Bellevue press convention about an officer who was shot within the line of responsibility, Feb. 18, 2025. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
In 2012, in misconduct that wasn’t recognized publicly till it was reported by THE CITY earlier this 12 months, the Inner Income Service knowledgeable the NYPD that Chell was beneath investigation for federal tax fraud.
The allegations included that Chell had used the identification of different folks in reporting revenue he made moonlighting as a basketball referee at Chelsea Piers from 1997 to 2003.
Chell pleaded responsible to departmental costs the subsequent 12 months of willfully making an attempt to evade a federal tax, however he was docked simply 10 trip days, the personnel information present.
When THE CITY requested Adams in August why Chell was the suitable individual for chief of division regardless of the tax fraud incident, he answered, “Many years of good policing.”
Adams has additionally defended Chell in opposition to criticism that he and Daughtry have been being too inflammatory in social media assaults in 2024 in opposition to those that they deemed overly vital of division management.
The posts, together with one which claimed left-wing Queens Metropolis Council member Tiffany Caban “hates our city,” prompted Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to request an investigation from town’s Division of Investigation.
In January, simply weeks after Chell was appointed chief of division, the company discovered that Chell and Daughtry’s posts had been “demeaning” and “unprofessional.”
Chell had argued that he was merely defending the members of the police division, and Adams, in April 2024, stated he took no difficulty with Chell talking up.
“I want the leaders of the administration to stand up for police officers who are placing their lives on the line,” Adams stated on the time.
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