New York City’s “hipster cop” is hanging up his skinny jeansand turning in his badge on Friday, according to reports.
Det. Rick Lee, who became a meme sensation during Occupy Wall Street in 2011, put in his papers in January and has been using vacation days since, the New York Daily News reported. “Not to put down my brethren, but cops aren’t exactly known for dressing well,” Lee told DNAInfo. “I knew that I didn’t dress like a typical cop, so I guess I stood out.” RELATED:Occupy Wall Street: The best of ‘Hipster Cop’ Rick Lee His style might have helped the 50-year-old community affairs detective act as a liaison between the NYPD and trendy businesses and residents in trendy neighborhoods in the First Precinct like TriBeCa and SoHo. “No one ever gets that I’m a cop, and I think that’s OK,” the Staten Island resident told DNAInfo. “[My style] breaks down a lot of walls, and I think I’m able to put people at ease, and that’s part of what I do.” Lee told the Daily News that he was not a “spy,” as some bloggers wrote, when Occupy Wall Street took over Zuccotti Park.
“It was funny how that whole thing kind of grew, that hipster cop thing,” he said. “I wasn’t a spy, but it’s the internet and free speech and people can write whatever they want.”
On Friday, Lee loses his “superpowers,” and — for the first time since he was 14 years old—he doesn’t “have to be anywhere or do anything.”
“Hipster cop” added that he plans to hang out with his sheepdog, Bertie, and travel for the first time to California and Europe.
“In the original sense, that a hipster is someone who doesn’t conform to the norms, I think it does describe me,” Lee told DNAInfo, “and yes, I do wear skinny jeans.”
#hipstercop
To my fellow LEO’s, what’s your favorite obscure charge to write? pic.twitter.com/WcVKKFy6ei— ServingandBelonging (@ServngBelongng) December 2, 2016
Legendary Det. Rick Lee & PO Narciso at the @TasteofTribeca ? pic.twitter.com/gE4AjtkWBF
— NYPD 1st Precinct (@NYPD1Pct) May 21, 2016
? #HipsterCop! ? Our #FashionPolice expert at the @justinbieber #PURPOSE pop-up store in #SOHO. pic.twitter.com/WRwuarvAIu
— NYPD 1st Precinct (@NYPD1Pct) May 4, 2016
#hipstercop has retired from NYPD @NYPDnews thanks for all the laughs ! pic.twitter.com/ZbxWinKGTn
— Matthew Hackling (@mhackling) February 23, 2017
#hipstercop has retired from NYPD @NYPDnews thanks for all the laughs ! pic.twitter.com/ZbxWinKGTn
— Matthew Hackling (@mhackling) February 23, 2017
Member da hipster cop? (Me neither.) I wonda how hims is doinz. Can someone finds out for me pwease? pic.twitter.com/Q6qCyxEauE
— Pièce de Résistance (@JihadKitteh) February 22, 2017
