Shocking state of affairs, and London seems to be as bad these days.
A friend of mine works for the UN in Syria, when he came back for xmas he did a bit of rickshawing (I know, why?) and got stopped by the police who took a similar tone to your NYPD friends. First they had a problem with the tax issues of cash in hand, then they asked him to empty his pockets on grounds of counter terrorism only to find lots of syrian and Lebanese money and notes written in arabic. This prolonged the conversation somewhat.
A friend of mine works for the UN in Syria, when he came back for xmas he did a bit of rickshawing (I know, why?) and got stopped by the police who took a similar tone to your NYPD friends. First they had a problem with the tax issues of cash in hand, then they asked him to empty his pockets on grounds of counter terrorism only to find lots of syrian and Lebanese money and notes written in arabic. This prolonged the conversation somewhat.