[...]
> But while officers may be in a no-win situation, at the mercy of
> orders carried on shifting political winds and locked into conflict
> with a so-far almost entirely non-violent protest movement eager to
> frame the force as a symbol of the oppressive system they’re fighting,
> the NYPD seems to have crossed a line in recent days, as the park has
> taken on a darker tone with unsteady and unstable types suddenly
> seeming to emerge from the woodwork. Two different drunks I spoke with
> last week told me they’d been encouraged to “take it to Zuccotti” by
> officers who’d found them drinking in other parks, and members of the
> community affairs working group related several similar stories they’d
> heard while talking with intoxicated or aggressive new arrivals.
>
> The NYPD’s press office declined to comment on the record about any
> such policy, but it seems like a logical tactic from a Bloomberg
> administration that has done its best to make things difficult for the
> occupation — a way of using its openness against it.
>
> “He’s got a right to express himself, you’ve got a right to express
> yourself,” I heard three cops repeat in recent days, using nearly
> identical language, when asked to intervene with troublemakers inside
> the park, including a clearly disturbed man screaming and singing
> wildly at 3 a.m. for the second straight night.
>
> “The first time I’ve heard cops mention our First Amendment rights,”
> cracked one occupier after hearing a lieutenant read off of that
> apparent script.
>
> “A lot of you people smell,” a waggish cop shot back later after an
> occupier asked if he might be able to help find more appropriate
> accommodations for a particularly pungent and out-of-sorts homeless man.
>
> “The police are saying ‘it’s a free for all at Zuccotti so you can go
> there,’” said Daniel Zetah, a member of several working groups
> including community affairs. “Which makes our job harder and harder
> because the ratio is worse and worse.”