East Villagers were recently surprised to find that the Ninth Police Precinct had vanished from E. Fifth St. The precinct’s facade was made famous as the setting for TV shows “N.Y.P.D. Blue,” “Kojak” and “Police Story” and has had cameos in many movies; it had the dubious distinction of being where Mariah Carey bailed out her boyfriend in “Glitter.” However, Det. Jaime Hernandez, the precinct’s community affairs officer, said the original facade will be restored. “They’re going to rebuild the whole thing,” he said. “The whole front is coming back the same way. They took it down and they numbered everything.” Hernandez said originally the plan was that just the interior walls would be taken down for the renovation, but that in the end, it was decided the whole precinct would be rebuilt. The renovation will add two elevators and a top floor, which will house the elevator rooms. The precinct has currently relocated to the PSA 3 stationhouse at E. Eighth St. and Avenue C. Hernandez said the renovation should be complete a year from now. “All the officers miss the old precinct,” he said.
