Pam Martens
Alternet
September 17, 2012
By mid morning on Monday, September 17, as Occupy Wall Street
protesters marched around the perimeter of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, all signs that an FRPD (Federal Reserve Police Department)
existed had disappeared. The FRPD patrol cars and law enforcement
officers had been replaced by NYPD patrol cars and officers. That
decision may have been made to keep from drawing attention to a
mushrooming new domestic police force that most Americans do not know
exists.
Quietly, without fanfare or Congressional hearings, the USA Patriot
Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Banks,
domestic policing powers.
Section 364 of the Act, “Uniform Protection Authority for Federal
Reserve,” reads: “Law enforcement officers designated or authorized by
the Board or a reserve bank under paragraph (1) or (2) are authorized
while on duty to carry firearms and make arrests without warrants
for any offense against the United States committed in their
presence…Such officers shall have access to law enforcement information
that may be necessary for the protection of the property or personnel of
the Board or a reserve bank.”
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