So, in a big-kid move, someone apparently tagged a Portland cop car this morning outside the Occupy Portland campsite on Madison. It's not quite the "fuck the police" chorus that went up briefly this afternoon during the Battle over Main Street. But I'll be damned if a small handful of Occupy Portland campers aren't out to make the protest about the Portland cops who aren't arresting them (unlike in other cities) for camping out in a city park instead of about the shitty state of the national economy, et cetera, et cetera.

Here's the release the cops sent out this afternoon.

Today, Wednesday October 12, 2011 between 8:45 a.m. and 10:21 a.m. a Portland Police car was vandalized by an unknown suspect. The Police car was parked on Southwest Madison between 3rd avenue and 4th avenue. The Police car was parked directly next to Occupy Portland. Officers observed the word PIG written in blue permanent marker and it would not rub off when they returned to their car after being at Occupy Portland.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Portland Police.

This isn't clever. Or smart. It's pretty much juvenile. The cops have been playing this very well, from their end, using some restraint for a change so they don't wind up a bigger part of the Occupy story. If protesters force a confrontation with tricks like vandalism, it won't be like New York, where the pepper spraying of innocent, peaceful protesters helped galvanize the movement. In our town, the cops—in the eyes of most 99 percenters—will probably still wind up looking good.