#NYPD police union expected to endorse Trump amid NYC’s crime surge

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Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York
EPA/Anna Moneymaker

The New York City Police Benevolent Association is backing President Trump’s re-election bid amid an increase in crime and clashes with protesters, The Post has learned.

The union — which represents 24,000 cops in the nation’s largest police department — is expected to announce its endorsement of Trump as early as Saturday at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course, insiders said.

The PBA remained neutral when Trump faced off in 2016 off against Democrat Hillary Clinton, the former New York senator and US secretary of state.

The PBA endorsement of Trump comes after New York’s Democratic political establishment, led by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, have backed laws that the union perceives as anti-cop.

Over the past year, the governor and the state Legislature have overhauled criminal justice laws that include eliminating cash bail for defendants accused of many crimes.

State lawmakers also passed a law to publicly disclose the disciplinary records of police officers accused of misconduct.

Meanwhile, de Blasio and the City Council recently approved a law that bars police officers from using chokeholds or other maneuvers to restrain suspects resisting arrest and slashed the NYPD’s budget.

Trump has portrayed himself as the “law and order” candidate amid protests — some accompanied by vandalism and other crimes — following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

He slammed de Blasio and other big-city mayors for failing to back law enforcement and has threatened to send in federal officers to help restore order.

He even told The Post on Thursday that he thought the level of crime in New York helped put the state, which he lost to Clinton by 22 points in 2016, in play for him in November’s election.

Amid the strife, law enforcement groups have coalesced behind the president.

Last month, the National Association of Police Organizations, an umbrella group that represents 1,000 police units and associations across the country, endorsed Trump.

NAPO’s vice president is NYC PBA official John Flynn.

For his part, PBA president Patrick Lynch met with the president at the White House on July 31 along with other members of NAPO to discuss the crime problem.

“In our city, we’re going through a difficult time. We have a progressive mayor that’s anti-police; the city council that’s anti-police; and the statehouse is anti-police. So they’re changing the law where it’s becoming impossible to do our job,” Lynch told the president.

“And remember what our job is: to keep folks safe. You do that by helping the good people, going after the bad people. They’re stopping us from doing that.”

The PBA and the Trump campaign had no immediate comment.