The NYPD wants to award another contract to a Brooklyn-based start-up it has already paid $2.9 million for a touchy-feely “Sentiment Meter” that some insiders say cops don’t use.

Since 2017, the city has funneled the taxpayer cash to Elucd Inc. through a no-bid contract with CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a college spokesman told The Post.

Elucd’s “Sentiment Meter” is an electronic survey that randomly pops up on apps such as Candy Crush and WeatherBug while in use in targeted areas of New York City. About 7,500 residents a month are asked whether they feel safe and trust the cops, the NYPD says. Respondents answer on a scale of 1 to 10.

“This tool gives us information about how the community members that police officers work with every day feel,” said Devora Kaye, the NYPD’s acting Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

But the NYPD has released only sparse data so far — citywide monthly average scores from September 2016 through August 2019.

The NYPD’s overall trust rating improved from an initial 6.1 to 6.6, and its safety score dipped from 6.6 to 6.3, according to charts released by the department.

Kaye ignored requests for the data by neighborhood or precinct, which could reveal sharp differences.

“Where is the data?” tweeted Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeant Benevolent Association, in September. “We are all waiting to hear what the community has said on that polling. Why is everyone silent about it?”

Experts agreed. “If the NYPD paid for this data, even if the data doesn’t make you look good, in the age of transparency you still have to release it,” said John Jay professor Joseph Giacalone, who wasn’t involved in the research.

Some NYPD staffers say the survey data has been quietly compiled. “It’s a well-kept secret,” an insider said.

Others mock the program as a boondoggle.

“No one uses it,” one high-ranking official said. Police officers queried by The Post said they never saw the data, or never heard of the Sentiment Meter.

In a July 1 notice posted on the City Record the NYPD said it wants to award Elucd a contract for an unspecified period and price, saying it “knows of only one vendor” who meets its requirements.

“The NYPD anticipates that introducing these measurements will position the Department to hone the allocation of resources, setting of priorities, and deployment of programs to best meet the needs and expectations of New York City residents,” it says.

Michael Simon, co-founder and CEO of Elucd, referred all questions to “our representative” at BerlinRosen, a PR firm hired by Mayor de Blasio for his successful campaigns in 2013 and 2017. Co-founder Jonathan Rosen’s wife, Debbie, is chief of staff to First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleiha. BerlinRosen referred questions on the Sentiment Meter to the NYPD.

An advocate of the Sentiment Meter project was John Linder, a longtime associate of ex-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. A consultant to the NYC Police Foundation from 2014 to 2018, Linder touted the surveys as a complement to the NYPD’s CompStat program to track crime data.