Police blotters appear to have met an unceremonious end in New York City.
According to DNAinfo, the NYPD received a memo last week prohibiting all of its precincts from sharing crime reports with the media. Per the memo, all media requests about reports should be "referred to the office of the Deputy Commissioner For Public Information." In other words, reporters will have to dance with the gatekeeper for information. Good luck with that.
Gothamist says that the DCPI only used to distribute information in cases such as sexual assaults and murders. Now, their responsibilities have been expanded to include burglaries and robberies—things that might interest the average citizen, and things the media probably shouldn't have to go jump through circles of fire to access.
When Gothamist called the DCPI to find out if it would be increasing its staff to handle the anticipated spike in phone calls, they were hit with genuine indifference:
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