Public Employee Press


LOCAL 1087 MEMBERS OPERATE THE NYPD PRINT SHOP
Official papers

BY DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Deep in the bowels of New York Police Department headquarters, the in-house print shop hums with activity.

NYPD recently installed a $1.8 million state-of-the-art digital press operated by 16 members of Prevailing Rate Employees Local 1087. The new waterless press is one of two, four-color digital presses the 13 dedicated Printing Press Operators and three Compositors are trusted to produce every official parking sign, poster, plaque, flyer, instruction manual and form NYPD needs.

The shop's wide range of equipment includes printers, binders, high-speed copier presses and an original Heidelberg press - workhorses that take up two floors at 1 Police Plaza.

The Press Operators print posters on sexual assault, school safety, suicide prevention, and recruitment seen in subways and buses.

They make shooting targets for NYPD gun ranges and print official parking plaques and materials for the police, district attorneys, federal agents and transit officials.

They generate and bind all notebooks, forms, and papers used internally by Police Officers and Detectives, Traffic Agents and School Crossing Guards to track daily law enforcement activities.

"We try to keep all the printing in house and it adds up," said Dennis Puleo, the local's vice president.

Last year the NYPD print shop produced nearly 104 million printed pages. As of May the Local 1087 members printed over 90.4 million pages this year. NYPD plans to expand operations and open a satellite shop in Brooklyn.

"I think these members at NYPD demonstrate the fine quality work we do on a daily basis," said President Manuel Roman. "Their efficiency, dedication and professionalism is commendable and very valuable to the city. The cost savings the NYPD print shop generates should have City Hall sit up and take notice, and move to expand print shops to other agencies and reduce the costs of contracting out these jobs."