Patrick Lynch will not run for re-election as head of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) and will retire this summer after 24 years at the helm, according to the union.
Sources inside the organization told amNewYork Metro that Lynch made the announcement during a board meeting on April 11. In an official statement, the PBA said Lynch will not run for re-election after helming the association for nearly 2 1/2 decades.
This announcement comes mere days after the PBA reached a contract agreement that will reportedly provide officers with a 28.25% pay raise and improved working schedules that will end in 2025. Lynch stated that he didn’t wish to step down while negotiations were still underway.
“This decision is part of a philosophy I have long held: a rider cannot switch horses in the middle of a battle, and the PBA must not change leadership in the middle of a contract fight. As you know, the contract agreement we have just reached ends in 2025,” Lynch said in an email to PBA members. “If I were reelected, our fight for the next contract would be in full swing when I age out of the NYPD in 2026, a fact that the City would seek to use to its advantage at the bargaining table.”
Elections for the next president will be taking place in June and those interested must submit nominating petitions in May. The new president term—whoever that may by—will begin on July 1.
The PBA’s bylaws require executive board members to be active NYPD police officers. NYPD members are required to retire before age 63. Lynch is 59 years old.
“Before the nomination process begins, I believe it is important for all PBA members to know that I will not be seeking re-election,” Lynch wrote.
Lynch is the longest serving PBA president in history and longest-tenured leader of any major New York City municipal labor union, having served for 6 terms since being elected in 1999.
The Bayside, Queens resident joined the NYPD in 1984 after first following his father, a subway motorman, into the New York City Transit Authority as a subway conductor. During his years on patrol, Lynch earned three Exceptional Police Duty awards and one Exceptional Merit Citation for his part in aiding two fellow police officers who had been shot by an assailant.