NEW YORK — After two months of speaking their minds on social media, NYPD officials were tight-lipped about their controversial posts at a City Council hearing Thursday as two department executives responsible for most of the tweets were no-shows.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell and Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry skipped the morning budget hearing even though they’d been scheduled to attend. Mayor Eric Adams’ office told them at the last minute not appear, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

Around 7 a.m. Thursday, the mayor’s office told the duo not to show up, fearing that the hearing would turn into a “circus” over their tweets that some Council members claim violate departmental policy, are inflammatory and potentially dangerous, the sources told the Daily News.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard also skipped the hearing, though he’d been scheduled to attend, too.

While the department has traditionally used social media to spread word about good arrests and tips on how to fight crime, Chell began using the platform to criticize judges he believed were soft on crime in March.

Since then, he and Daughtry have been lobbing critical tweets against journalists, columnists and elected officials they disagree with. The department previously said it was “correcting the narrative” on social media, which they believe was skewed against police.

Sheppard and the mayor have supported the new social media tactic.

At the hearing, neither Police Commissioner Edward Caban nor Michael Gerber, the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters, would comment on Chell and Daughtry’s posts, citing an ongoing investigation into the matter by the city’s Department of Investigation.

“It’s inappropriate to comment as the investigation is ongoing” Caban said.

But the DOI said there isn’t a gag order on the investigation, so the department could have spoken about the posts if officials wished.

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