A second attempt to repair the rift between NYPD and City Hall ended Wednesday in failure and with a police union leader ripping Mayor Bill de Blasio — again.
“The problem was not created here in headquarters, it started in City Hall,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said in a statement after a two-hour sitdown with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton that de Blasio did not attend.
“We don’t believe there’s a willingness on the part of City Hall to solve these problems.”
Lynch also batted away reports that cops were engaging in a work slowdown to register their displeasure with de Blasio.
“Our members are doing their job,” he said in a statement endorsed by the other four police union leaders. “The other solutions will come from the leaders here. We wish there was a leader in City Hall.”
A source told the New York Daily News a high-ranking NYPD official — not Bratton — at the meeting told union heads the tanking arrest numbers would have to go up. If not, there would be repercussions, the official said.
De Blasio was at a school event when Bratton went toe-to-toe with the leaders of the five police unions. He could not be reached for comment after the meeting, but his spokesman Phil Walzak had a statement ready.
“The mayor is committed to keeping crime at historically low levels, supporting the brave men and women of the NYPD who protect us every day, and bringing the police and community closer together in every neighborhood across New York City,” it said.
“Mayor de Blasio has a strong record of supporting our cops — from adding more than $350 million in new investments to bolstering our police force to appointing the nation’s finest police leader as NYPD commissioner to clearly denouncing anti-cop rhetoric. That’s leadership,” Walzak added.
Insiders said Bratton neither defended nor criticized the mayor during the meeting.
