NYPD Union Chief Under Fire From His Own Membership

The head of the NYPD's largest union is deeply unpopular amongst New Yorkers, but now he faces discontent from his own ranks.

Patrick Lynch, who has been the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for 16 years, now faces a challenge from a slate of candidates who want to see him out of power, according to the New York Daily News.

"He’s not listening to the membership,” Brian Fusco, a 27-year NYPD veteran, told the Daily News. “He has an arrogance about him that it’s his way or no way at all.”

Fusco is running to replace Lynch as union president. He said Lynch needs to spend less time feuding with the mayor and more time lobbying for tangible resources, like new bulletproof vests.

Lynch made national headlines when he said anti-police brutality protesters and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had "blood on their hands," after two officers were killed in their patrol car.

Since then, some NYPD officers have turned their backs on the mayor and engaged in what Police Chief Bill Bratton described as a work slowdown. Arrests for minor offenses and the number of tickets issued plummeted during the two weeks after the police killings.

For his part, de Blasio has repeatedly praised the NYPD and, last week, he reaffirmed his threat to veto legislation that would criminalize the use of chokeholds by police officers.