PBA president Patrick J. Lynch addresses the perception of the use of force and the need for full investigations when deaths in custody occur.

PBA president Patrick J. Lynch said: 

“The citizens of this City expect our police officers to be responsive to their complaints and to take action when there is a violation of law.  At times, when officers are required to make an arrest, they must employ the use of force in order to get compliance from an individual who NYPD policy requires must be rear-cuffed for transport to a precinct. Force, by its very nature, is an ugly thing to witness.  Taken out of the context of what is happening, necessary force can be misinterpreted to be excessive by those who are not trained in law enforcement procedures.  Society relies on police to keep order and maintain the peace in our neighborhoods and society must give our police the benefit of the doubt when a tragedy occurs in the performance of their duty. That benefit of the doubt comes in the form of the time it takes to do a full investigation in order to gather all the facts before reaching a conclusion.  It is imperative that our elected officials, community leaders and the citizens of our city are supportive of our police officers who do this difficult job every day if we are to expect them to continue putting themselves in harm’s way to keep the city safe.”