What the NYPD Really Thinks of Occupy Wall Street | Mother Jones

What the NYPD Really Thinks of Occupy Wall Street Mother Jones

From article: "We are all in this together," says an off-duty cop—let's call him Jim—who described himself to me as a 99 percenter and supporter of the occupation. Jim says he believes that most of his fellow officers feel the same. "We have no problems with what goes on there," he says.Jim has stubble, thinning hair, and circles under his eyes. He's been posted to Occupy Wall Street since Day One, and all the mandatory overtime is wearing him down. "I'm really working hard for this," he says. "I'm getting yelled at, I'm getting cursed out; I'd rather be at home with my family right now.""We are in a union as well," says one NYPD veteran, "and we are not rich."And yet he understands that the same group that's squaring off against him at Zuccotti is fighting for his future. A 10-year NYPD veteran who helped escort people out of the Twin Towers on 9/11, Jim has seen his retirement fund cut in half by a declining stock market, from $40,000 to $20,000. He worries that his kids won't be able to afford college or find jobs. And he's frustrated about not being able to talk about it openly. "We're getting lost in the shuffle," he says, pointing out that other public-sector unions, unlike his own, have backed OWS. "We are in a union as well, and we are not rich."