Patrick Lynch—yes that’s his actual last name—the head of New York City’s largest police union, is pissed. Seems some meddling kids decided it was a good idea for the public to have instant access to a database of information on accusations of misconduct against the NYPD. And, like meddling kids do, they kept pushing and pushing until that database was a real thing.
Now, according to the New York Daily News, the public can just click a link and search through thousands of records of lawsuits, formal complaints, settlements, internal investigations and more against New York cops, the guys Lynch and his Police Benevolent Association represent. It’s so unfair, Lynch whined to to the Daily News.
“Most of the information in this database was already public and searchable,” Lynch said. “This isn’t really about ‘transparency’ – it’s about advancing the anti-police narrative and making it easier for cop-haters to target individual police officers. It’s yet another reason that New York City police officers are quitting at record rates.”
To which we say, “Bye.” “Deuces.” “Let ‘em quit.” “You ain’t got to go home but you can certainly get the hell on and find work at the post office.” And also, “Don’t let the door hitcha where the good Lordt splitcha.”
Seriously, fuck this guy. You want an anti-police narrative? Try nearly a half-million records of the misdeeds of cops, most of which are in your union. How about a cop union that sued the city where its officers work because the city tried to make arrests safer for civilians by banning dangerous restraint techniques like the one that agonizingly killed George Floyd. Or maybe getting mad—big mad—that New York’s City Council dared to make it possible to hold cops accountable for their abuses by voting to strip them of the absurd protection known as qualified immunity.
There’s an anti-police narrative for you. Every time Lynch and cop union officials like him speak, they’re advertisements for all that’s wrong with American policing. If anything galvanizes animosity toward police, it’s not a database of complaints, it’s a Trump-loving blowhard who calls Black folks “animals” in public and never, ever wants to see a dirty cop held accountable for anything.
If only there was a database somewhere that collated all the complaints against Lynch in his policing career. That’d be worth some meddling kids looking into.