1 Police Plaza Explained

One Police Plaza
Native Name:NYPD Headquarters
Alternate Names:1PP
Architectural Style:Brutalist
Cost:$58 million
Location:New York City, New York, U.S.
Mapframe-Wikidata:yes
Owner:City of New York
Current Tenants:New York City Police Department
Coordinates:40.7122°N -74.0017°W
Start Date:1968
Completion Date:1973
Inauguration Date:1979
Renovation Date:1984
Floor Count:14 (above ground)
Main Contractor:Castagna & Sons
Architecture Firm:Gruzen & Partners

One Police Plaza (often abbreviated as 1PP) is the headquarters of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The building is located on Park Row in Civic Center, Manhattan near New York City's City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge. Its block borders Park Row, Pearl Street, and Police Plaza. 1PP replaced the NYPD's previous headquarters at 240 Centre Street, approximately 1miles north of 1 Police Plaza.

Description

One Police Plaza is rectangular in plan and is an inverted pyramid in elevation. It is a 13-level, horizontally-oriented brutalist building designed by Gruzen and Partners.[1] A 22000square feet expansion project was completed in 2011. Although the project did not add any new floors to the building, it did add new computers and equipment. Angry Lower Manhattan residents held a rally on August 27, 2008 near One Police Plaza to protest the addition, and tenants of three neighboring co-ops filed a lawsuit to force the NYPD to undergo environmental and land use reviews.[2]

Located on the second floor of One Police Plaza is the Real Time Crime Center, an anti-crime computer network which is essentially a large search engine and data warehouse operated by detectives to assist officers in the field with their investigations. The Major Case Squad and the Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) are also located at 1PP.[3]

Inside 1 Police Plaza, a room on the second floor affectionately called "The Shack" served as the police bureau office for local press outlets until 2024 when it was moved to a structure outside the building.[4] Its tenants include the Associated Press, the Daily News, New York Post, The New York Times, Newsday, Staten Island Advance, El Diario La Prensa, NY1 News, and WINS Radio.[5] Its police counterpart is on the 13th floor, the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information (DCPI). Also inside 1PP is the "Thirteenth Floor", the office of the New York City Police Commissioner.

Park Row closure criticism

Park Row, historically a major artery linking the Financial District to Chinatown and the Bowery, has been closed to public traffic since 2001.[6] The NYPD asserts that this is necessary to protect its headquarters from a truck bomb attack. Chinatown residents were particularly frustrated at the disruption caused by the closure of the thoroughfare, especially nearby residents. People who live nearby argued that the police department had placed a chokehold on an entire neighborhood and that if One Police Plaza was such an obvious terrorist target, it should be moved from a residential area.[7] Members of the Civic Center Residents Coalition fought the security perimeter around One Police Plaza for years. Park Row reopened for foot traffic and MTA buses in 2005,[8] although only 200 buses per day were allowed on the street, and they had to pass through security checkpoints.[9]

In 2007, the NYPD said that it would not be moving despite the numerous complaints from residents, explaining that they had tried to alleviate the impact of the security measures by forbidding officers from parking in nearby public spaces and by reopening a stairway that skirts the headquarters' south side and leads down to street level near the Brooklyn Bridge. The department also planned to redesign its guard booths and security barriers to make them more attractive, and was involved in efforts to convert two lanes of Park Row into a cycling and pedestrian greenway,[6] which opened in June 2018.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NYC Police Headquarters.
  2. Web site: Lower Manhattan Residents Rally Against NYPD. December 1, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080905185541/http://www.ny1.com/Content/Top_Stories/85418/lower-manhattan-residents-to-rally-against-nypd/Default.aspx. September 5, 2008. dead.
  3. News: Fahim. Kareem. Center Gives Police High-Tech Help . The New York Times . July 15, 2005 . June 29, 2016.
  4. Klein . Charlotte . 2023-12-14 . "A Slippery Slope": NYPD Is Relocating Reporters From Police HQ to a Trailer . 2024-01-12 . Vanity Fair . en-US.
  5. Web site: Moore. Tina. Welcome to The Shack, our new blog from inside NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza . Daily News . New York . The Shack . June 29, 2016.
  6. News: Chinatown Residents Frustrated Over Street Closed Since 9/11 . The New York Times . Cara . Buckley . September 24, 2007.
  7. Web site: Dave Hogarty . Park Row Paralysis . Gothamist . September 24, 2007 . March 16, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110521042339/http://gothamist.com/2007/09/24/park_row_paraly.php . May 21, 2011 .
  8. News: Rutenberg. Jim. 2005-04-15. Park Row Is to Be Reopened To Pedestrian and Bus Traffic. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-09-24. 0362-4331.
  9. News: Wilson. Michael. 2005-05-16. Metro Briefing | New York: Manhattan: Park Row Reopened To Buses. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-09-24. 0362-4331.
  10. News: Spivack, Carol . park-row-bike-pedestrian-paths-reopens-after-9-11-closure . . June 22, 2018 . July 3, 2018.