The mayor says the NYPD is doing more with less. We’re the city’s biggest success story. The Mayor’s Management Report says that, with 5,000 fewer police officers, we’re answering more radio calls, reducing response time and writing more summonses. And crime continues to drop. Now that’s productivity.

Does it make sense for us to work like animals and perform like supermen and superwomen to make Mike Bloomberg and Ray Kelly look good? Is it worth the risk of injury or worse to fly to a job only to wind up in a hospital because of an RMP accident?

Are the risks we take and the sacrifices we make appreciated by the commissioner or the mayor, who are making their reputations on our backs while screwing us in our contract?

We should do our job and take the appropriate time to do it right. We can take the time to make sure that every summons we write is written clearly and with accurate information. That may take a little longer, but it’s worth it to get it right. The department is always encouraging us to reduce the error rate on our summons writing. Let’s do it.

We should also make sure to be very thorough in filling out our 61s or recording details in our memo books. I can remember rushing to get memo-book entries or a 61 done hastily to get to the next job. Today, having the benefit of years of service, I realize that haste makes waste. The 61 or memo-book entry is no good if you can’t read it. I don’t know about you, but my handwriting makes a doctor’s scrawl look like calligraphy. So I have to take my time to write down information carefully and neatly so it’ll be useful in the future.

Also: Drive safely. Some recent tragic accidents involving our members enforce this point. It may take you a little longer to get to the job but, as the department tells us, if you don’t get there, you can’t help.

Taking care in responding to a call will limit the risk to the innocent citizens and to you and your fellow officers. Don’t think those lights and sirens are going to cause an intersection to freeze up for you or part the traffic on Eighth Avenue like Moses did the Red Sea. And by driving more carefully, you’ll be reducing the liability the city faces in accident litigation.

We’re professionals. We should take the time to do our jobs well. We should take the time to do our jobs safely. And we should take the time to be thorough.

Let’s take the time. Let’s do this job properly.