Woe to the San Diego public official who dares cross the police unions.

Police unions are in the midst of contract negotiations with San Diego and surrounding communities.

The police union in La Mesa, a suburb east of San Diego, flexed its muscles when Mayor Art Madrid dared to point out that there isn’t a heck of a lot of crime (0 murders in 2009)  in the city of 57,000.

“Our employees aren’t getting shot at,” Madrid said during a City Council meeting.

Jeff Raybould, the city’s police union president, called that comment “slap in the face to every police officer in this fine city,” in a letter to Madrid that was obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune

Came then the hammer:

“Contrary to what you might believe, we don’t spend all of our time scooping up inebriated public officials,” Raybould wrote.

That’s a nasty shot at Madrid, whom police found lying on the sidewalk in 2008.

And for the San Diego Police Officers Association a drop in crime is apparently bad news. The SD police union urged “restraint” this week over FBI crime statistics that show overall crime plunged by 18 percent. 

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, a former police chief, has proposed $12 million in cuts — but no layoffs of sworn officers — for the SDPD, which is in the midst of contract negotiations with the city.