Mr. Curry. No; I didn't. We had in the past had always permitted free movement of the press around the city hall but we had never been faced with anything like this before where we had national and international news media descending upon us in this manner.
Mr. Rankin. Could you describe to the Commission the difference this time as compared with the ordinary case that you have handled?
Mr. Curry. Well, the ordinary case, perhaps we have two or three or maybe a half dozen reporters, we have a room for them on the third floor where they normally on assignment at city hall they stay in this room.
As prisoners are brought to and from the interrogation offices, it is necessary to bring them down the main corridor, and they usually are waiting there where they take pictures of them as they enter and as they leave and they sometimes try to ask them questions.
Mr. Rankin. Now, how was this different?
Mr. Curry. That there was such total confusion here. We had to post men on the door to keep them actually from going into the office where they were interrogating. We had some men, police reserves and a sergeant, I noticed on the third floor when I come off the elevator.
They were stationed there, and they were screening people to see whether or not they had business on the third floor because we did have to carry on our other normal business, the burglary and theft and the juvenile bureau and the auto theft bureau, the forgery bureau all of these are on the third floor in this wing.
The Chairman. Chief, is this building just a police building or a municipal building, general purposes?
Mr. Curry. It is a section of the municipal building.
The Chairman. A section of it. Is it isolated from the rest of it?