Lynch Tells Cops To Make More Arrests But Not Too Many

The head of the city’s pow­er­ful police union has told rank-and-file offi­cers to go back to issu­ing tick­ets, sum­mons­es and mak­ing low-lev­el arrests — but not too zeal­ous­ly, the Daily News has learned. Patrolmens Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch told union trustees to spread the word, a source said Thursday. “He said they should go back to at least 50% of what they used to do,” the police source said. A sec­ond source said the direc­tive was in response to a promise by Chief of Department James O’Neill to start crack­ing the whip if cops con­tin­ued with the slow­down, appar­ent­ly under pres­sure from his boss, Commissioner Bill Bratton.

“Bratton has been patient,” the sec­ond source said. “His patience is wear­ing thin.” The same might be said of anoth­er top NYPD union leader who report­ed­ly asked Gov. Cuomo to help repair the rift between the cops and City Hall. Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins reached out to Albany after a sec­ond sum­mit with Bratton — that Mayor de Blasio did not attend — end­ed in fail­ure. “The may­or is who he is,” Mullins told the Daily News on Thursday. “He’s not going to change his views toward police.” Mullins said he was moved by con­cil­ia­to­ry words Cuomo spoke Tuesday at the funer­al of his father, for­mer Gov. Mario Cuomo, and “he seemed sincere.”

“The truth of it is this is some­thing that can be fixed in 30 sec­onds with the may­or giv­ing a pub­lic state­ment, some­thing apolo­getic, fol­lowed by a ges­ture of good­will so we can begin to trust him,” Mullins said. There was no response from Cuomo, but Mullins’ appeal came short­ly after for­mer President Bill Clinton said he want­ed noth­ing to do with this mess. Clinton “is not going to get involved,” his spokesman, Matt McKenna, told The News. Earlier, both de Blasio and Bratton put the kibosh on either Clinton or Cuomo serv­ing as medi­a­tor. “The may­or has immense respect for President Clinton, but what’s need­ed real­ly here is a con­tin­ued dia­logue,” spokesman Phil Walzak said. “The may­or is going to keep talk­ing to and meet­ing with these union lead­ers.” The idea of enlist­ing Clinton’s help was raised dur­ing the Wednesday meet­ing between Bratton, Mullins, and the heads of the four oth­er police unions.

In a clear sign that feel­ings between the cops and de Blasio remain raw, Walzak struck back hard at Lynch’s recent claim that the may­or “sup­port­ed those demon­stra­tors that were call­ing for the death of cops.” “That’s just false,” Walzak said. Walzak released a tran­script of de Blasio’s remarks from Dec. 22 in which the may­or ripped the row­dies who heaped abuse on police. “There are some peo­ple who say hate­ful things,” the may­or said. “They have no place in these protests.” De Blasio made those remarks two days after a pair of Brooklyn police offi­cers were killed by a cop-hat­ing mani­ac, a tragedy Lynch laid at de Blasio’s door, say­ing he had “blood on the hands.” It sparked a work slow­down, with police appar­ent­ly refus­ing to make arrests for pet­ty offens­es that are the hall­marks of the “bro­ken win­dows” polic­ing. The num­ber of city­wide crim­i­nal sum­mons­es dropped by 94% for the week end­ing Dec. 29, and 92% for the week end­ing Jan. 4, accord­ing to crime stats obtained by The News. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bill-clinton-staying-nypd-de-blasio-feud-article‑1.2070327