PBA, MIKE TRADE COP-HIRE FIRE

By PHILIP MESSING and DAVID SEIFMAN

April 25, 2008 -- The police union yesterday angrily rejected Mayor Bloomberg's claim that the union triggered an NYPD recruitment crisis.

"The mayor's misinformation is misleading when the recruitment problem started before the 2005 contract," insisted Al O'Leary, a Patrolmen's Benevolent Association spokesman.

It wasn't the union's acceptance of the paltry $25,100 starting pay, but stricter education standards, that caused the problem, the union said.