There’s dissension in the ranks at the NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, and the dissenters are looking to rout the union’s current leadership.
President Patrick Lynch, whose fiery rhetoric against Mayor Bill de Blasio made headlines in the wake of the Eric Garner protests and the murder of two NYPD officers in December, will face a challenger in the upcoming union election.
Brian Fusco, a 27-year NYPD veteran and PBA trustee representing South Brooklyn cops, announced his candidacy for the PBA presidency Tuesday. His coalition, dubbed “Strengthen the Shield,” is looking to topple Lynch and his supporters within the union.
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“[Lynch] is not listening to the membership,” Fusco said. “He has an arrogance about him that it’s his way or no way at all.”
The New York Post notes that members of Strengthen the Shield’s leadership team have come under investigation in a 2011 Bronx ticket-fixing scandal. Fusco believes his fellow candidates are falsely accused, and blamed Lynch’s “failed leadership” for enabling those officers and the union to be targeted.
