The president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), Patrick Lynch again aired out frustrations at Mayor de Blasio, claiming that he is “running a f—ing revolution,” rather than a city.
Lynch also recommended that rank-and-file cops to use “extreme discretion” when dealing with critics from City Hall.
“Our friends, we’re courteous to them,” the president said at a delegates meeting on Friday. “Our enemies, extreme discretion. The rules are made by them to hurt you. Well, now we’ll use those rules to protect us.”
“If we won’t get support when we do our jobs, if we’re going to get hurt for doing what’s right, then we’re going to do it the way they want it,” he said.
Lynch appeared to be calling for a work slowdown, but Al O’Leary, spokesman for the NYPD’s largest union insisted that was not true. “He just said to do the job right,” O’Leary explained.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton agreed that there was no evidence of a slowdown.
“We’ve seen no indication of officers not doing what we expect them to do,” Bratton said. “There are officers that despite the many concerns they may have, some of which were voiced by Mr. Lynch, doing what you would expect them to do, behaving very professionally.”
On the other side was Anthony Miranda, a retired NYPD lieutenant and chairman of the National Latino Officers Association, who called Lynch’s remarks “alarmist.”
“Lynch is feeding into the emotions of cops. That doesn’t lead to good relations. That just feeds the frenzy,” said Miranda.
De Blasio made no comments to reporters when he attended a meeting on Thursday and thanked police officials for “another great year” in reducing crime, sources close to police said.
President Lynch’s comments come as his feud with Mayor de Blasio appears to snowball out of control over the death of Eric Garner, despite requests from other police unions for a meeting with the mayor to air their frustrations.
