NYPD Orders Precincts to Deny Journalists Access to Crime Reports
The NYPD has ordered the city's 77 police precincts to stop giving out any information to the media about crimes taking place in their neighborhoods, cutting off a long-standing source of information for New Yorkers. According to a terse NYPD edict transmitted citywide, precinct commanders were instructed: "Any requests by media to view complaint reports be referred to the office of the Deputy Commissioner For Public Information." The move is the latest -- and perhaps not the last -- taken against the media by outgoing Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.