The city’s largest police union has taken aim at three legislators who voted for legislation to curtail stop-and-frisk, accusing them of being “pro-crime,” The Post has learned.
In 90,000 hard-hitting fliers mailed to constituents, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association asserts that the targeted City Council members “voted against public safety.”
The fliers display pictures of the politicians inside a red circle with a slash.
“Is your City Council member pro-crime?” the fliers ask.
The missives suggest that voters demand that their elected representatives not tamper with the stop-and-frisk program.
The mailers were directed at Jessica Lappin, who is running for Manhattan borough president, and Mark Weprin of Queens and Dan Garodnick of Manhattan, both of whom are hoping to become the next council speaker.
In a related move, PBA President Pat Lynch in a mass e-mail told rank-and-file cops to be on watch for potential lawsuits.
After instructing cops to “take action” during life-threatening situations, Lynch continued, “Otherwise, concerning events not occurring in the officer’s presence, all officers should be careful not to initiate any law-enforcement action that could be construed as violating the new legislation and subject the officer to legal action.”
The e-mail was intended as a response to a bill the council passed last month that would enable lawsuits against the NYPD and, in some cases, individual officers for alleged bias-based profiling during stop-and-frisks.
The bill — which Mayor Bloomberg says is certain to increase crime — allows suits to be brought by those who believe they were stopped based on race, gender, sexual orientation or other identifying factors.
It passed with 34 council votes, which would be just enough to override a mayoral veto.
Plaintiffs who win their suits could demand policy changes in the NYPD but would not be entitled to monetary damages.
The bill came in response to outrage over the expanding number of stop-and-frisks, which Bloomberg boasts has helped reduce the city’s murder rate to historic lows. A companion measure, which the mayor also plans to veto, creates an inspector general to oversee the police force.
Council members pushed back.
“I’m proud to have voted for these two bills, which will put some muscle into Police Department oversight and help rein in constitutionally questionable stop-and-frisks,” said Lappin.
“If the PBA thinks this kind of bullying works with me, they picked the wrong legislator.”
Weprin called Bloomberg “an overzealous mayor who’s created a quota system that has forced cops to stop people who should not have been stopped.”
The PBA would not reveal how much the mailer cost.