NYPD Credits Occupy with the Drop in Crime After Sandy
Hold on to your riot gear, ladies and gentlemen, because police in New York City are saying that Occupy Wall Street activists deserve credit for helping keep the city safe after Hurricane Sandy. They're not saying that publicly, of course. That would just be too much.
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In case you haven't been paying attention, Sandy recovery efforts are on-going in many parts of New York City. In areas like Coney Island and the Rockaways, crime has spiked, mostly from burglaries as the communities have struggled to get back on their feet, but things have been remarkably civil in Red Hook. The New York Post reported why on Wednesday night: "Police sources have credited the drop in crime to an unlikely coalition that included the NYPD, Occupy Wall Street activists, and local nonprofits working together to keep storm victims safe." Said one of these unnamed sources, "This crisis allowed us all to remove the politics and differences we had to do our job, and come to the aid of the people. We all rose to the occasion."
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Occupy Sandy isn't just fighting crime. The group of activists that first assembled to fight corporate greed and income inequality has been on the ground providing relief to Sandy victims essentially since day one. They've done everything from collecting and distributing supplies like food, blankets and batteries to coordinating volunteers and rebuilding efforts from each of their six satellite offices across the city. The group has also committed to sticking around for 24 months, so that they can help not just with the clean up effort but also rebuilding, including generating jobs for those that need them.
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So this means that the Occupiers and the coppers will play nice now, right? Well, we'll see on Thursday when Occupy will take over Times Square to support the right to organize.
