New Revenue Stream For Local Police Departments?

Entrepreneurs are bursting with ideas on how to monetize Occupy Wall Street. A New York couple is trying to trademark the phrase Occupy Wall St. with the intent of selling t-shirts and other merchandise. It's not quite as bad as it sounds. Robert Maresca says that he'd sell the trademark to Occupy Wall Street for just $1 plus expenses. Andy Borowitz captures the irony with a humorous Letter from Goldman Sachs. "... At Goldman, we recognize that the capitalist system as we know it is circling the drain – but there’s plenty of money to be made on the way down. ... ".
But my favorite are the police departments around the country. There is money to be made enforcing petty laws with large fines. Starting October 21, the Fort Myers Police Department began issuing citations to protestors for occupying Centennial Park after park hours. The first citation is $135 and the second is $250. In Tucson, Arizona, the Occupiers face a maximum $1,000 fine for violating the park closing rules. As of October 27, they had handed out over 70 citations to Occupy Tuscon protesters.  Since October 9, Cincinnati police have issued 239 citations to 91 people for violating curfew rules. So far this has amounted to almost $25,000 in fines in Cincinnati. In Des Moines, Iowa, a judge ordered those Occupiers charged with tresspassing to pay a $100 fine plus court costs, surcharges, and a $125 law enforcement initiative surcharge. How much is your city fining its Occupy protesters? In this age of budget cutting, police departments around the nation may start eyeing their local Occupiers as a cash cow.

Sources: CNN, Borowitz Report, WBBH-TV via msnbc.com, fox11az.com, Cincinnati.com, KCCI Des Moines,