The District is spending $22,000 a day, well over $1 million so far, on the Occupy DC protest since October, according to figures obtained Wednesday by The Washington Examiner. It’s a far cry from what other cities have spent — New York dropped about $7 million just on police overtime for the Occupy Wall Street protest since September.
But while Occupy protests across the country have seen violent confrontations and police crackdowns over the past two months, Washington’s Occupy protests have been relatively peaceful, with protesters generally cooperating with police and, in some cases, actively avoiding arrest.
| Occupy costs to D.C. |
| – $1.1 million as of Nov. 22 — Metropolitan Police Department |
| – $18,400 as of Nov. 18 — Department of Transportation |
| – $6,000 as of Nov. 18 — Department of Sanitation |
| Occupy costs to other cities (as of last week) |
| – New York: $7 million* |
| – Oakland, Calif.: $2.4 million |
| – Portland, Ore.: $785,000 |
| – Boston: $575,000* |
| – Philadelphia: $500,000* |
| *Police overtime only |
Still, the Metropolitan Police Department has already spent $1.1 million monitoring Occupy DC, or about $22,000 a day. That includes a one-time payout of $55,000 in overtime for officers who escorted about 300 Occupy protesters and several labor unions in a Nov. 17 march to Georgetown’s Key Bridge.
In addition to police spending, the District Department of Transportation spent $18,400 on traffic control and the Department of Sanitation spent $6,000 on trash removal and parking enforcement as of last week. City officials did not have updated spending figures Wednesday.
The National Parks Service and the U.S. Park Police, which oversee the Occupy campsites in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, haven’t incurred any extra costs because of the protests.
For now, most of the District’s costs related to Occupy DC are covered in the city budget, and overtime costs are manageable, said police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump.
“If this is an extended event requiring more resources than currently allocated, this will become a budget pressure,” she wrote in an email to The Examiner.
The District’s costs have been lower than those in other cities, in part, because the District isn’t making wholesale arrests like those in Oakland, Calif, or New York. Indeed, District officials from the mayor on down, have embraced the Occupy protesters.
“I believe our police force has acted fabulously,” said Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans. “We know how to do demonstrations and will continue to do that.”
Occupy DC on Wednesday marched on Capitol Hill to protest the failure of the deficit-cutting supercommittee, two days after that panel announced that it failed to devise a plan to slash spending. About 20 protesters entered the Senate’s Hart Office Building and read aloud from a statement demanding Congress “represent the 99 percent” by protecting entitlement programs, ending two wars and raising taxes on the rich.
Protesters said they were prepared to be arrested by Capitol Police, but most left after getting a warning from police. A few chanted “We are the 99 percent” and “We declare freedom of speech.”
“It was absolutely successful,” said Bo Han, a 29-year-old Occupier who arrived in the District this week after marching more than 200 miles from the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York. “I think the echoes off that ceiling, six floors up, woke [Senate staffers] up. There was one moment where we were convinced we might have broken through.”
