Greetings: I went for a haircut today and the guy in the chair next to me starting talking about Occupy Wall Street. He said that his son, a New York City policeman, loves it. Why? Because he gets to volunteer for lots of easy overtime. This past Sunday, for example, his son volunteered for two shifts and got triple overtime for each, meaning he made as much in one day as he would make in six days walking his beat. Also, his son said that it's easy work. The protesters are respectful, they comply with most requests, an they keep the place clean. Also, they fly lots of American flags. And they have lots of veterans there, at least during the day. And plenty of union workers, too, real stand-up guys. OK, his son said, it gets really noisy during the day, especially at lunchtime when the drumming starts, but then it quiets down, and at night, when maybe 300 or 400 people sleep over in the park, it's really quiet. And no one is smoking weed or getting drunk, and that's something you can't say about the big parades in New York. One more thing his son said is that the cops have lots of snitches planted in the park, but they're not really needed. Absolutely everything the protesters do they announce publicly, so there should be no real surprises. The only time there is potential for trouble is when groups of protesters march out of Zuccotti Park, and then it's cool as long as they stay on the sidewalk two abreast, keep moving, and don't block traffic. Anyway, the cops can use scooters to keep marchers out of the roadway. However, one time the sergeant in charge didn't realize the marchers were going to break up into three groups, and she (the sergeant) hadn't assigned enough cops with scooters to follow all three contingents as they went their separate ways. The brass apparent reamed her out for that intelligence failure. So I asked him if his son told him whether the cops are sympathetic to the protesters or not, and he said not at first, but then they didn't know what to expect. The longer the protest goes on, his son told him, the more open the cops are to the protesters. Then he said again how the American flags are a good sign, and his son wishes that some of the big parades would carry that many American flags. Also his son said the cops hear that the food is really good, but they are not allowed to have any. There are strict NYPD rules against taking anything for free, even if it's offered free to anyone, and even if they come back when they are off duty and out of uniform. --- Steve
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