Pat Lynch speaks on police morale

PBA president Patrick J. Lynch said:

“Nothing affects morale like having too many jobs to handle and not enough police officers to handle them.  We are dangerously understaffed and it is taking a toll on our members who are being pushed from one 911 job to another while homicides and shootings go through the roof.  When you compound the relentless pressure of responding to jobs with the obsession for issuing summonses and doing stop and frisks it becomes ridiculous.  Then when you do issue a summons you have to deal with IAB looking to take vacation days away because you failed to dot an ‘I’ or cross a ‘t.’  The news about Occupy Wall Street or cops who are alleged to have done something wrong are not as big a problem for morale as staff shortages and IAB checking memo  books.  Morale is as bad as I’ve ever seen it and it will not improve until staffing increases and management gets IAB off the backs of police officers who are just trying to do their jobs.”