New York City Agrees to Largest Occupy Wall Street Settlement Ever

[markpkessinger]

3. Although it may be the largest settlement with Occupy protesters . . .

. . . it is hardly the largest settlement the4 city has paid for NYPD thuggery. In January, the City agreed to pai $18 million for the NYPD's improper arrrests during the 2004 GOP Convention (see http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/15/new-york-agrees-settlement-2004-republican-convention ). And unfortunately, $583,024 -- or even $18 million -- barely even qualifies as a rounding error in a city with a $70 billion annual budget. Neither suim is enough to create the kind of public pressure needed to rein in the NYPD. These sums will be seen by the NYPD as a mere "cost of doing business," and nothing more. The settlements will do absolutely nothing to change the NYPD's behavior.