NYPD (Almost) Kicks Reporters Out

Reporters can stay in "The Shack" until NYPD finds more space

Just kidding! Hours after the NYPD told reporters they’d have to get the heck out of its Manhattan headquarters in three months the department appeared to backpedal on the eviction, according to a published report.

Letters signed by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly notified The Associated Press and local media outlets that about a dozen reporters would have to move by July 31.

The letters said that the department hopes to welcome back police reporters once it completes the first phase of a new police academy - a project expected to ease a space crunch - in 2013.

The NYPD recanted once news of the impending exile was reported, according to The New York Times. In a statement released just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Kelly said journalists could still use “The Shack” – a dingy set of cramped offices reporters occupied for decades – until the department could find a more permanent space for them in the building.

“The Shack” is being reconstructed into a new Joint Operations Center for the NYPD. But now reporters won’t have to wait until it’s done before they’re allowed back into the building.

News reporters have been a fixture inside NYPD headquarters for more than three decades, during which time "The Shack" has housed informal press briefings and been a base of operation for journalists, according to The Times. It's also common for media outlets in New York to have desks inside City Hall and courthouses around the city.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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