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NYPD Hopes New Crime Tape Keeps Out Cops
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 22, 2009
Modified Dec 22, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 22, 2009
Modified Dec 22, 2009
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Crime scenes: They're the place to be! But just like Bungalow 8 and The Beatrice Inn, once too many hangers-on start mobbing the place, it's so over. One NYPD supervisor tells the Daily News that too many uninvited cops are ruining the, um, scene:"Too many guys want to show up just to be seen." So the NYPD has introduced flashy new crime scene tape to try and keep out the rabble. Fine. This place is dead, anyway.
The old yellow-and-black crime scene tape formerly read "POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS," but the new tape reads, "CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS." Hopefully that will remind NYPD poseurs not to trample on precious evidence as they work the room. And a departmental memo went out recently to remind officers that "only authorized personnel, who are properly trained and equipped, are actively involved in the investigation of the incident, and whose presence is absolutely required, will be permitted to enter the crime scene perimeter."
The outer perimeter crime scene tape has also been changed, from yellow-and-black to blue-and-white, but some think the new color combination was too subdued to register with New Yorkers. A Daily News reporter recently observed pedestrians walking past the blue-and-white tape, apparently unaccustomed to the new color scheme. Clearly, the NYPD needs to buy some clipboards and tell more cops to stand around looking arrogant—we can't have crime scenes turning into Duvet, for crying out loud. Oh wait, Duvet was a crime scene.
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crime scene
new
nyc
nypd
tape
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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