Confetti in Macy’s Parade Made of Confidential Police Documents

Lindsay Beyerstein November 24, 2012

Investigative reporters have much to be thankful for this holiday season: Some of the confetti in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade turned out to be made out of still-readable shreds of confidential police documents.

One confetti strip read, “‘At 4:30 A.M. a pipe bomb was thrown at a house in the Kings Grant’ area.” Some strips bore the names and Social Security numbers of officers who appear to be undercover.

The Nassau County police department is investigating how these partially shredded documents became parade supplies.

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Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/hillmanblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.