Results tagged “1pp”

With the NYPD's decision to close offices that daily newspapers and other media outlets have at police headquarters, the NY Times offers a mini-history of crime reporting: "Collegial, masculine in spirit, if not gender, and challenged in all matters of hygiene, the shack crew has for 146 years lived in the midst of the police, sometimes in the basement, sometimes across the street in a set of very grimy offices that inspired the name 'the shack.'" There are lots of anecdotes: When 1 Police Plaza opened in 1973, one reporter broke in the new offices "by using the drawers of his desk as an ashtray for his cigars"; rival reporters watched out for each other—"If a reporter’s telephone rang while he was at the bar, someone would invariably answer, 'Oh, he’s across the street.'" The Shack will be closed on July 31 while 1PP undergoes renovations; reporters can file stories from a conference room, but there won't be desks (or doors where amusing things are displayed). A former Shack reporter for the News, David J. Krajicek, told the Times, "If you’re there every day, you’re keeping an eye on the institution. Proximity does not necessarily translate to access, but it does translate to focus."

Earlier this week, the NYPD told the established press who have desks and office space at Police Headquarters (1 Police Plaza) that they'd need to vacate by July 31, due to construction and renovations. A few hours after that notice, the NYPD then decided the press could still file stories from a little-used conference room but would no longer have the desks. When asked about the decision, Mayor Bloomberg said, "This is not a First Amendment issue; this is a construction issue. We just don't have enough room." Though the NYPD says it will try to find the press permanent desk space in two years, the NYCLU accuses the department of trying to control the media; NYCLU spokesman Christopher Dunn told Newsday, "There's no question that the press is much better able to report on the Police Department if they can actually have their offices inside of police headquarters."