Journalists call on NYPD to stop plans to remove reporters from Police Headquarters

New York — The New York Daily News and six other news organizations are calling on the New York Police Department to stop plans to remove reporters from their long-standing offices inside Police Headquarters and relegate them to an outside trailer.

With the move expected to come as early as next Monday, the outlets said in a Thursday letter that shutting down offices that journalists have called home for decades could undermine their mission to “gather information, check facts, and ultimately inform the public — effectively and thoroughly.”

“Given the history of our offices and their importance to our work, we find the NYPD’s handling of the move and lack of communication both surprising and disconcerting,” the letter said, asking for a pause in the plans until the issue could be discussed by NYPD officials and the news organizations.

It was signed by Al-Amyn Sumar, senior counsel to The New York Times Company, and backed by outlets including The News, The Associated Press, WCBS-TV, New York Public Radio, The New York Post and Newsday.

The reporters’ offices, known as the Shack, have a storied history in the annals of city journalism.

Reporters have worked inside the NYPD’s current headquarters since they opened at 1 Police Plaza in 1973.

The nickname for the offices comes from the Mulberry St. apartments, known as shacks, where they long worked before the establishment of the current HQ. The NYPD backed down from plans to kick out reporters in 2009, following an outcry during the Bloomberg administration.

The NYPD gave little notice of its latest plans, the letter noted, stating that the police “did not signal that such a move was imminent, and it made no effort to communicate with the editors or senior leadership of most of the news organizations.”

The proposed digs would deprive reporters of privacy and pose “a serious impediment to our work,” it added. The move also risks cutting off vital access to the police.

The letter called on the NYPD to explore alternatives inside Police Headquarters and “guarantee that the move will not impede our reporters’ access to 1 Police Plaza proper.”

“Our proximity and access to NYPD officers helps us produce well-informed reporting, which benefits everyone: the press, public, and the NYPD. We value our presence in the building and strongly prefer to remain there,” Sumar wrote to NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard.

The New York Press Club echoed the concerns.

The proposed move would be “antithetical to the First Amendment rights of journalists in New York City and everywhere,” the organization’s President Debra Toppeta said in a statement.

“This access has led to the coverage of thousands of stories affecting millions of New Yorkers, protecting them from crime, fires and countless other dangerous situations, including explosions and terrorist incidents like the 9/11 attacks,” she added.

The NYPD did not immediately answer a request for comment on the letter.