NYPD honchos are pressuring cops not to listen to a popular podcast critical of agency bureaucracy — and hunting down those who interact with it on social media while on the city clock, claims a retired police lieutenant who runs it.
John Macari Jr. said the Police Department is “targeting” the “New York’s Finest: Retired & Unfiltered Podcast” — which he co-hosts with retired NYPD Lt. Eric Dym — because NYPD brass is upset over a complaint they submitted to the Internal Affairs Bureau in January.
It alleges both retirees received online threats to their families from some cops as part of a larger department-driven “smear campaign” over the show’s content, which has included topics like “nepotism” and “weak leadership” within the NYPD, and rising crime.
Citing “credible upper-echelon NYPD sources,” Macari claimed top brass and union reps are telling police officers not to be guests on the podcast and not to listen to it — or even hit “like” on the show’s social media posts — while on NYPD time.
“They’re wasting taxpayer money to basically target a small podcast,” Macari told The Post. “Obviously, you’re now allowed to do certain things on job time, but if you’re sitting listening to the radio in a patrol car or reading the New York Post, the Daily News, that’s okay, so why are they specifically targeting our podcast?”
The show, which began last year, gets about 20,000 downloads a month, said Macari.
The NYPD did not return messages.