Pat Lynch, the head of the NYPD’s largest police union, is calling it quits after more than two decades in the post and on the heels of a new contract for officers.
The Police Benevolent Association president will not seek re-election in June when his current five-year term expires, the union announced Tuesday.
If Lynch, 59, had sought re-election, he would not have been able to complete the next full five-year term before being forced to retire at age 63, the NYPD mandatory retirement age.
The news comes just days after Lynch and Mayor Eric Adams made a handshake deal on a new pact for the union’s 23,000 members, who have been without a contract since 2017.
The tentative contract, if approved by the officers’ union, would raise the starting salary of police officers by more than $10,000, to $55,000, and give cops retroactive raises for the past five years, as well as two more pay bumps this August and next.
The total increase in raises over the contract term would be 28.25%.
It would also see a pilot program that would change officer schedules from just over eight-hour shifts to 10- and 12-hour tours — allowing cops to have more days off.
Lynch is the longest-serving president of the union. He was first elected to the post in 1999 and has been chosen by the members six times.
He is expected to be succeeded by current union treasurer Pat Hendry, according to sources. PBA recording secretary Dan Tirelli is slated to be Hendry’s No. 2.
He said in an email to members that if he left in 2026, the middle of the next term, it would likely mean having to depart during the next round of negotiations for another officer contract, which expires in 2025.
“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,” Lynch wrote in the message to PBA members. “To remain true to my principles, I must allow the change to begin now.”
His plans after June 30, when his current term ends, have not been made public.
The union prez, who hails from Bayside, Queens, joined the force in 1984. His two sons followed in his footsteps and became NYPD officers.