Breast milk ‘pods’ at Police Headquarters

The NYPD has installed two “pumping pods” at its headquarters after complaints and legal challenges from cops who say they have no clean space to pump breast milk on the job.

After a class-action lawsuit and a joint complaint by five mothers claiming a lack of adequate space, the pods have been set up at 1 Police Plaza in lower Manhattan. If they’re a success, the department plans to install them at other police facilities around the city.

The pods, built by a Vermont company called Mamava, are freestanding rooms where mothers can express milk in a clean and private setting. They’re equipped with benches and electrical outlets and can be locked from the inside.

The shortage of places to pump breast milk was brought to light in October by Officer Simone Teagle of the 113th Precinct in Jamaica, Queens. Teagle claimed her superiors refused to provide her with the time and a clean space to pump, in violation of department policy and state and federal law.