"Taxpayers might be shelling out as much as $50,000 extra every weekend to pay cops overtime for the protest...Lousy deal for the taxpayers and for those who are stuck dealing with traffic jams and the filth they are sure to leave behind when it finally gets too cold for these pampered perpetual teenagers.
"...On weekdays, the NYPD can pull cops off other beats to guard Zuccotti Park. But on the weekends, and for large marches, overtime cops must be called in, said [NYPD Captains Endowment Association president Roy] Richter.
"Of an estimated 100 cops patrolling Zuccotti Park on weekends, it is reasonable to assume that at least half of them are getting paid overtime, Richter said. Overtime pay is $60 per hour, compared to the normal police pay of $40 per hour. "Even on weekdays, many of the about 30 cops who patrol the park have been pulled in from other precincts, such as Flushing, Midtown or University Heights in the Bronx." (Metro New York)
This must be awkward for the union members who are beginning to support this movement. On the one hand, they support the unionized first responders who are pulling in hefty overtime pay while risking their lives wading into these crowds with one hand tied behind their backs. These are their union brothers and sisters, right?
On the other hand, protesters are going out of their way to make the NYPD the enemy, claiming police brutality and even alleging that the police lured the protesters onto the Brooklyn Bridge so they could arrest them. The cognitive dissonance required to simultaneously hate the police and be in solidarity with them must be excruciatingly painful.
These "peaceful" protesters are setting up a potentially dangerous situation. They are diverting police protection from neighborhoods that have a genuine need for it. For what? So these crybabies don't destroy and overrun the neighborhood like a bunch of sewer rats. This is endangering the law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of New York City.
And of course, the threat of terrorism is constant and real, unlike the manufactured threat these squatters whine about. Recall that Anders Breivic, the Norwegian terrorist, first diverted police to a government building he had bombed in Oslo. From there, he was able to travel to Utoya Island, where he had 90 minutes to gun down teenagers before police finally arrived.
In an emergency in New York City, valuable delays could cost lives if police are busy hauling limp bodies off the Brooklyn Bridge. Spend some time watching the live feed of the protests. While many or even most of them are peaceful and are just there for a fun camping trip or because they heard there was a free Radiohead concert (they were disappointed), there is clearly an element that is there to provoke the police, hoping they can catch a confrontation on camera.
If you're a praying person, pray for those brave men and women who have to walk into that squalor, knowing their every move is being recorded and scrutinized. You could't pay me $60/hour to do that.
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