Metro

Lhota, Quinn swap barbs over police-IG bill

In what could be a preview of November’s mayoral election, the leading Democratic and Republican candidates traded verbal blows yesterday over a proposal to create an NYPD inspector general.

GOP contender Joe Lhota called the legislation “reckless and dangerous” and praised the police for drastic reductions in crime under Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

“The Police Department needs to maintain a laser-like focus in the reduction of crime; and to continue to see crime reduced, we can’t allow reckless behavior like putting a handcuff on the Police Department, which is what the inspector-general bill will do,” Lhota said on the steps of City Hall.

He called on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn — the Democratic front-runner — to “withdraw her support of this bill.”

Quinn’s spokesman Jamie McShane shot back, “Joe Lhota simply does not know what he is talking about.

“He is either ignorant about the details or willfully ignoring the facts. The bill that the speaker supports will do nothing — not one thing — to limit the Police Department’s ability to do their job.”

The inspector-general bill has also raised the ire of Bloomberg.