Statement by PBA President Pat Lynch, reacting to Mayor Bloomberg’s pension proposals

Pat Lynch said:

“The pension benefits for New York City police officers have existed for a hundred years and are part of the compact the city makes with the people who take this demanding job. We don’t want to repeat the mistake made not that long ago when the starting NYPD salary was reduced to $25,100, which gave many people second thoughts about pursuing an NYPD career and contributed to a serious recruitment and retention problem.  Similar pension benefits exist for police officers nationwide and it would be a testament to how far this city has fallen if the nation’s finest police officers were offered second-class pension benefits. It is in fact too costly not to pay the compensation and benefits necessary to attract qualified candidates to this difficult and dangerous profession.”