All Hell Breaks Loose in the NYPD

So, yesterday was not a great day for officers of the NYPD. First, polling came out showing the NYC public opposes their turning their backs on the Mayor in protest. This is kind of a watershed moment in a city that only a generation ago elected it's mayors for being law-and-order types.

Then, this happened:

Earlier I noted the new Quinnipiac Poll that showed that while New Yorkers give solid approval numbers to the NYPD, they roundly oppose the campaign of public back-turning and the police refusal to enforce all but the most serious laws in the weeks since the execution style killing of two NYPD patrolmen. What also emerged in the poll is public anger that Patrick Lynch, President of the Police Benevolent Association has managed to make the public face of an asshole into the public face of the NYPD. And now there are signs of rising opposition to Lynch within the union itself. A raucous union meeting at Antun's catering hall in Queens Village on Tuesday night broke down into a melee of pushing and shoving and screaming involving some 100 police officers angry Lynch's leadership of the union. The yelling and screaming and shoving went on for about ten minutes, according to the Daily News, before Lynch walked out.

I don't even know what to say to that. I mean, a fight at a union meeting? The piece linked above goes on to say that Lynch basically walked the union into a corner, demanding an apology while the union members had real needs, and a contract negotiation getting started. In short, Lynch has become a serious liability for the NYPD, and there is really not many good options moving forward that include him.