Top New York City Police Department brass and and the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association are butting heads.

Over the past week, the police officers’ union has flooded city newspapers with ads saying that beat cops are being forced to issue tickets by their superiors.

PBA president Pat Lynch says it amounts to a quota to issue tickets and to get convictions in traffic court. If they don’t, Lynch claims officers are punished.

“There is huge pressure put on our police officers to give out summonses and now there is huge pressure in traffic court to get convictions,” he said.

Officials at One Police Plaza say officers are only disciplined if they don’t show up to appearances in court for tickets that they write.

“That’s not our function,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “We give out summonses to keep people safe to do what we can to expedite the flow of traffic, not to generate dollars.”

These ads are just the latest development in a growing spat between police plaza and the police officers’ union. And Lynch says they will continue to run them until police plaza and the union can agree on a solution on so-called ticket quotas.

“We don’t want the pressure from the job to do more and more and say if you make a mistake in traffic court, we’re going to take your vacation time away,” Lynch said.”

While union officials are lashing out at top brass, they’re cozying up to other city officials, including Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who won their backing in her bid for congress.

“I believe police officers stop when they suspect that there is somebody out there that is up to no good, so to speak,” Crowley said.

(Source: NY1)