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Downtown Precinct Balancing Occupy Wall Street with Regular Patrols

By Julie Shapiro | October 28, 2011 6:31am

LOWER MANHATTAN — Downtown's over-extended police officers are doing the best they can to balance Occupy Wall Street coverage with patrol of the rest of the 1st Precinct, the precinct's commanding officer said Thursday night.

Deputy Inspector Edward Winski, who is in charge of the area of lower Manhattan that includes Zuccotti Park, said at a 1st Precinct Community Council meeting Thursday that although he is receiving help from other precincts around the city, his officers are still stretched thin.

"It's something we deal with," Winski told residents Thursday.

"It's New York City. We don't complain. We just try to do the best we can with the resources we have."

Winski said four police officers had been assaulted in the 1st Precinct from the time the protests started Sept. 17 until this Wednesday night's raucous demonstrations, when several more were hurt. The injuries have been minor and all of the officers are back on the job, Winski said. 

"It's been challenging," Winski said after the meeting. "One day at a time."

Even in spite of the protests, major crime in the 1st Precinct is down 9 percent so far this year compared to last year, one of the biggest reductions of any precinct in the city, Winski said.

The Occupy Wall Street protests have been the subject of contentious discussion at several recent Community Board 1 meetings, but at Thursday's precinct council meeting, no protesters or residents with protest-related complaints spoke.