PBA AIDING CITIES THAT POACH COPS

By MURRAY WEISS

April 23, 2008 -- The city's police union is looking for few good cops - to leave the NYPD.

In a move that further strains relations between the PBA and Mayor Bloomberg, the union will allow better-paying police departments around the country to place recruitment ads - free of charge - in the union's monthly magazine.

"Our members are sick and tired of the rhetoric that praises us for our work, credits us for making the city economically viable, and then tells us that the richest city in America can't afford to pay its police as much as cities with smaller tax bases and lower property values," said PBA president Patrick Lynch.

Lynch said his members are constantly asking for help in finding opportunities "where they can get to make a better living and feed their family" in cities that pay more than the Big Apple - and now the union is giving its all.

"It is a disgrace," Bloomberg declared, blaming the union for the $25,100 starting pay for cops "because the PBA wanted" to give more money to senior members.