All You Need To Know About The Hipster Cop

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times Detective Rick Lee advised demonstrators how to avoid arrest and get along with other officers on Monday at Zuccotti Park.

There are many unknowns about the Occupy Wall Street protest in  downtown Manhattan: Where is the next march? Who are its leaders? What  do they really want? When will it end? But an even bigger question,  perhaps, has emerged: Who is the Hipster Cop?
The questions keep  popping up about the nattily dressed plainclothes officer who has become  a fixture at the protest camp at Zuccotti Park.
What are his  name, rank and precinct? And does he live in Williamsburg, or Bushwick?  Is he really pressing protesters for planning secrets? And does he wear  skinny jeans off-duty? Is he into fixed-gear bikes and the Fleet Foxes?
He  has become an instant local celebrity and a fascination of online  coverage. Blogs anointed him the “hipster cop’’ and mused about his  identity. Twitter users posted snapshots of him. Online sleuths matched  the snapshots to those of a community affairs detective in the First  Precinct named Rick Lee.
Now it can be told: the officer is indeed Detective Lee, who confessed when approached by a reporter at the park.
“That’s what they call me,” he said with a slightly exasperated sigh.
“I will reveal that I wear skinny jeans off-duty,” he said, adding that the department frowns upon wearing them on-duty.
Detective  Lee is 45 but looks much younger. He is slim, with a shaggy hairstyle,  cool-nerd eyeglasses and an ironic smile. His wardrobe usually includes  cardigan sweaters, glasses and skinny ties to go along with his skinny  trousers.
Gawker and Gothamist,  among other Web sites, have chronicled his omnipresence at Occupy Wall  Street protests, whether at Zuccotti Park, where he can often be seen  engaging with protesters, or at boisterous marches around town.
In  an interview on Monday, Detective Lee revealed that he favors organic  food and eschews coffee and doughnuts. His taste in music runs to  Radiohead and the Killers.
He was wearing snug wool slacks, a print tie and a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses.
“I’m into fashion, always have been,” he said, adding that his suits are hand-tailored by a friend who works for Ralph Lauren.
Certainly Detective Lee’s natty style and cool demeanor stand out  against the protesters in sleep-rumpled clothes, the blue-uniformed  police officers around the park’s perimeter and the daytime office crowd  passing by in business attire.
He seemed amused at his emergence as one of the few recognizable figures in the protest story.
“I  think it’s funny,” said Detective Lee, who lives on Staten Island. “I’m  not a blog guy, so I haven’t really seen a lot of the hipster  mentions.”
Apart from his wardrobe, Detective Lee has played a  serious role at Zuccotti Park since protesters started camping there a  month ago. He has been one of the department’s main liaisons with the  protesters. He conveys departmental and community concerns and tries to  get information about the protesters’ plans.
He has been working  overtime, seven days a week. Detective Lee incurred the wrath of  protesters early on when they read reports that he had said at a  community meeting that protesters were technically trespassing and could  be evicted by the park’s owner. Some protesters cautioned others that  as a police official he was still the enemy.
One writer on a blog called The Sparrow Project  said that it was important to remember that “Hipster Cop is part of the  process of intimidation, ridicule and violence being levied against  us.”
Jamie Kilstein, a comedian, posted a Twitter message  defending the detective: “Guys! Stop making fun of #hipstercop! He’s  trying to find himself.”
Protesters stopped to speak to Detective Lee as he walked through the encampment on Monday.
Detective  Lee told a small group that his role was to try to keep a dialogue open  so that the Police Department could “protect everybody’s rights,” and  to try to keep things safe both in the park and at demonstrations.
“It’s nothing personal – we just want you to stay safe,” he said.
He  spoke with one protester and asked why the protester would not speak to  him when they crossed paths at a rally in Times Square last Saturday.
“It makes me a little nervous sometimes that you guys know me so well,” the protester replied.
One  woman was angry that protesters were talking to Detective Lee. “If he  was a white-shirt, you wouldn’t be talking to him,’’ she said, referring  to higher-ranking officers who wear white shirts. One of those officers  became an unwitting star when amateur videos showed him shooting pepper  spray at protesters who were contained behind an orange police netting.
“Not  everybody likes us,” Detective Lee said to the group. One protester  brought up pay inequity, and Detective Lee replied, “Yes, 39 percent of  my paycheck is taken out in taxes, so we have a lot in common.”
One  protester, Brendan Blood, 19 of Scranton, Pa., told Detective Lee that  he had been arrested four times during demonstrations.
Detective Lee told him to follow police orders to avoid arrest.
Another protester, Mike Leonard, 21, of Sayreville, N.J., stopped to  chat with the detective about a friend of Mr. Leonard’s who wore the  same sunglasses as the officer.
“He’s got a heart,” Mr. Leonard said of Detective Lee.
Detective  Lee said he worked as a carpenter after high school and had  shoulder-length hair. At the urging of his father, a retired New York  firefighter, he joined the Police Department at age 25. He is now four  months away from being eligible to retire.
He looked out over  Zuccotti Park from a familiar spot on the perimeter and said, “Maybe  I’ll grow my hair long again and join these guys.”
Corey Kilgannon @'NY Times'