Max Abelson SF Chronicle April 29, 2012

The world's biggest banks are working with one another and police to gather  intelligence as protesters try to rejuvenate the Occupy Wall Street movement  with May demonstrations, industry security consultants said.

Among 99 protest targets in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday are JPMorgan Chase  and Bank of America offices, said Marisa Holmes, a member of Occupy's May Day  planning committee.

Events are scheduled in more than 115 cities, including an effort to shut  down the Golden Gate  Bridge in San Francisco, where Wells Fargo investors relied on police to get  past protests at their annual meeting this week.

"Our goal is to kick off the spring offensive and go directly to where the  financial elite play and plan," she said.

After evictions and arrests from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to London that  began last year, the movement against income inequality and corporate abuse will  regain strength, said Brian McNary, director of global risk at Pinkerton  Consulting & Investigations.

He works with international financial firms to "identify, map and track"  protesters across social media and at their assemblies, he said. The companies  gather data "carefully and methodically" to prevent business disruptions.

Banks are preparing for Occupy demonstrations at the North Atlantic Treaty  Organization's Chicago summit on May 20 and 21 by sharing information from video  surveillance, robots and officers in buildings, giving "a real-time, 360-degree"  view, said McNary, who works on the project.

Banks cooperating on surveillance are like elk fending off wolves in  Yellowstone National Park, he said. While other animals try in vain to sprint  away alone, elk survive attacks by forming a ring together, he said.

Planning for Tuesday in New York began in January in a fourth-floor work  space at 16 Beaver St., about two blocks from Wall Street, according to Holmes.  The date serves as an international labor day, commemorating a deadly 1886 clash  between police and workers in Chicago's Haymarket Square.

The midtown demonstrations will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by  a march from Bryant Park to Union Square and a 4 p.m. rally there, according to  an online schedule.

Protesters, including labor unions and community groups, have a permit to  march from Union Square to lower Manhattan, according to police. Goldman Sachs'  headquarters is among financial-district picketing options, Holmes said.

Banks are bracing. Deutsche Bank AG is closing the public atrium of its U.S.  headquarters at 60 Wall St., which protesters have used for meetings, Holmes  said. Duncan King, a bank spokesman, declined to comment.

New York police can handle picketers, said Paul Browne, a spokesman. "We're  experienced at accommodating lawful protests and responding appropriately to  anyone who engages in unlawful activity," he said. "We're prepared to do both  next month."

Banks have a history of coordinating security with city authorities. At a  2009 U.S. Senate hearing, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly described a  partnership with financial-district firms that gives his department "access to  hundreds of private security cameras."

Footage is monitored in a downtown Manhattan center, he said. A 2005 letter  Kelly wrote to Edward Forst, then chief administrative officer at Goldman Sachs,  shows it was among firms getting space in the facility.

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