Members of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Services Unit — many ex-military members who scale bridges to rescue jumpers and turn into rooftop snipers to nail hostage-takers — have been ordered to drive around the city’s worst neighborhoods with their lights flashing to deter crime, The Post has learned.

The voluntary overtime shifts were ordered last month for the unit, as well as for cops in the department’s highway, patrol and warrants divisions, sources said.

The detail has some of the most highly trained cops driving around the most crime plagued precincts — like the 75th Precinct in East New York and 42nd in the South Bronx — to prevent violent crime and make arrests when necessary.

“It’s really a joke,” a disgusted ESU source said. “We sit in our truck all night driving around, listening to music.”

“City Hall is panicking,” he added, referring to a summer crime spike.

The latest statistics show that shooting incidents continued to increase last week compared to the same period in 2013.

The number of people shot jumped about 25 percent between July 15 and Aug. 10 compared to last year — climbing from 103 to 129.