This is the third in a series of articles about how the Lynch administration has benefited New York City police officers and their families through a comprehensive legal strategy designed to protect and advance PBA members’ rights under local, state and federal law and in a variety of other ways.

In earlier articles, I described the union’s successful effort to uphold the constitutionality of the PERB law, its defeat of the planned imposition of a federal monitor, its recouping of wrongfully deducted 1127 funds for former Transit and Housing officers, its securing of full pension rights for former Transit and Housing officers, other pension victories in litigation and legislation, the class-action court fight against unlawful drug pricing practices and challenges to alleged longstanding NYPD violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act by the NYPD.

In this piece, I will review the PBA’s legal accomplishments in matters pertaining to your physical safety, security and working conditions.

Getting you home in one piece

After learning of defects in certain members’ bullet resistant vests, the PBA mounted a challenge that led to the replacement at no cost to our members of over 6,000 vests. This led to a nationwide effort by police groups across the country to replace vests worn by their police officers. In addition, as a result of the PBA’s actions, the Department has implemented a system for conducting periodic testing to determine the effectiveness of vests over time.

We raised concerns about certain issues relating to the operation of the Glock firearm, which led to the manufacturer agreeing to retrofit certain models.

We also have raised health and safety issues concerning conditions in various commands and precincts and have maintained numerous proceedings under the Public Employment Safety & Health Act (PESH). These actions have led to safety and health defects in certain commands being improved or remedied and to various other changes in Department practices.

We also challenged the practice of mandatory one-man verticals in housing projects with dangerous conditions, as well as the procedures for wearing helmets following a dispute as to whether and when members could wear a helmet in violent situations. Both were resolved in a manner that provided greater safety protections to police officers.

We raised with the Department the dangerous gas-tank conditions in certain department vehicles. Thereafter, we were advised that the autos at issue were retrofitted with safety protections to address the dangerous condition.

Your off-duty security and on-duty protections

The PBA has successfully brought actions to prevent the dissemination of its members’ home addresses. It has also cracked down on profiteers who have tried to cash in from the sale of PBA cards on EBay. We have stopped individuals from destroying the historical and equitable character of our Widows’ and Children’s Fund. (They tried to do this by pitting police family against police family and filing actions against the Funds — the PBA prevailed in court). The PBA objected to member participation in physical fitness testing for active duty police officers and obtained safety concessions and the ability to opt-out for those officers asked to participate.

In this series of articles, we have detailed only some of the actions taken by the PBA on behalf of the union and its members over the past few years. As evidenced by some of the issues the PBA has taken on, litigation is usually a long and protracted process and a sometimes costly path to securing our members’ and the union’s rights, often with little guarantee of success.

Not every challenge results in victory, though fighting the fight is often valuable regardless of outcome. Like private sector entities, the PBA considers litigation one tool to achieve its objectives, particularly when other avenues for dispute resolution, including negotiations, have been exhausted or foreclosed by the other party’s refusal to negotiate. By being constantly vigilant about our collective rights, we create an expectation in those who deal with the union and its police officers that pursuing an unlawful path will result in certain litigation. This factor must be considered by those who are thinking about willfully violating the members’ or the union’s rights.

An active membership is the best way to ensure that member rights are protected. None of these fights would have been possible without the work of officers actively policing their rights and being willing to step up, identify the issue and invest the time and effort to assist the litigations to their conclusions. We hope to use this column in the future to keep members informed and updated about their rights, to alert members to issues affecting them in different parts of the city, to identify patterns in departmental practices that may be unlawful, and to encourage members to come forward and seek the PBA’s assistance when they have a well-informed belief that their rights are being violated.