While New York City police officers are stationed at the periphery, the department seems to have ceded patrols of the park interior to the protesters…

Across the precinct, there has been a rise in the number of crimes reported and arrests made in the four weeks leading up to Sunday compared with the same period last year: this year there were 446 criminal complaints, up from 362 last year, and 404 arrests, up from 323 during the same four weeks in 2010. But the number of summonses issued for criminal activity fell by a third to 205, from 330 last year…

Most uniformed officers have remained on the perimeter of the park since the third week of the protest, rarely venturing in. “We try to maintain a low profile and not antagonize the crowd,” said a police official who, unauthorized to speak for the department, requested anonymity. “And once you go in there, there’s a sense of hostility.”…

On Monday night around 10, a security team meeting was disrupted at least twice by urgent calls for help in different parts of the park. Toward the western end, two raggedy men, one with facial tattoos, were yelling at each other. Shortly afterward, a man wearing a baseball hat stormed into the park, yelling, “Are you ready to die for this cause?” and drawing a fist.