The NYPD had a covert operation that helped them finally put an end to its years-long contract negotiations — stalking Mayor de Blasio.
Mission Hunt Hizzoner was the secret weapon in ending the five-year battle between the city and the NYPD, according to police union president Patrick Lynch.
“We went out, we followed the mayor. We followed him to his favorite coffee haunt in Brooklyn. We went to his gym,” Lynch said Sunday in an interview with John Catsimatidis.
“I think it was effective,” he added.
The police union may have picked up some sleuthing tips from coverage in The Post.
Back in September, The Post broke the story that de Blasio delayed a meeting with blind residents affected by the Chelsea terror attack so that he could get his morning workout in.
He was a half-hour later to the meeting, and was observed at his YMCA in Park Slope sipping on coffee with his wife and spending a few extra minutes in the gym.
The news didn’t sit well with members of the Police Benevolent Association, who protested outside the Brooklyn gym a week later.
“If Mayor de Blasio wants to sit down and negotiate a fair contract with New York City police officers, we’ll meet him anytime, any place,” Lynch said at the time. “Since the gym is where he’s spending a significant portion of the workday, our members will meet him there even if it means taking time away from their families and second jobs.”
The union agreed to a tentative contract in January that will give 23,800 cops retroactive pay raises. The deal also requires all NYPD officers to have body cameras by 2019.
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