The blow by blow. Anyone that lives in Sunrise should be more than a bit unhappy with the jack booted thug mentality of some of their cops:
In a stunning display of unprofessional conduct, Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC) volunteers were harassed and threatened with being arrested by City of Sunrise Police Officers for peacefully and lawfully collecting
Florida4Marriage.org petitions in Broward County at a Promise Keepers conference this past Saturday June 3, 2006. FFPC Vice President Nathan Dunn was ordered by Sunrise Police Officers to stop collecting petitions. Officers then physically removed the petitions from "public view" on the table at the exhibitors tent. An $800 fee was paid in order have a PK event booth in the parking lot of the Bank Atlantic Center. Two of the male officers mocked the volunteers by kissing each other after they initially removed all the petitions from the area.
After a short discussion with the officers involved, it quickly became apparent that the duty officer, Sergeant Stephen Allen, was a supporter of gay marriage and personally disagreed with the marriage amendment effort. When Florida Family Policy Council President and General Counsel John Stemberger was called down to the scene and learned of the incident he sought further legal counsel from Rick Nelson of American Liberties Institute and then quickly confronted Sgt. Allen. Stemberger asked Allen what law or ordinance that was being violated by the display and collection of petitions. In response, Sgt Allen ignored the request for legal authority and unbelievably started lecturing those present on Jesus` view of homosexuality in the New Testament and that the petition effort was a "waste of time." Sgt. Allen refused to calmly discuss the supposed law that was being violated and then proclaimed that he was the authority and "the Bible says that Christians should obey the authorities".
Allen who was backed up at the site by four other Sunrise officers continued to argue "theology" when Promise Keepers security and event officials arrived on the scene and explained to the police the petitions were authorized to be distributed at the exhibit table. Eventually Stemberger placed the removed petitions back onto the table in public view and demanded that Allen produce the legal basis for his orders. Stemberger tried to explain to the officer what the law was and that constitutional rights were being violated but Allen continued to interrupt with abusive and irrelevant personal remarks. At the height of the confrontation, Sgt. Allen told Stemberger he would be arrested if the petitions were not immediately removed from the table. Stemberger later stated, "I stood in between the petitions and the officer and told Allen he had no legal authority, was in violation of the United States Constitution and he would have to arrest me because the petitions were going to stay on the table".
The incident ended after a civic center official told Sgt Allen to stand down and that there were no laws or rules being violated and the petitions could be distributed at the table. Needless to say, Sergeant Allen and the other officers quickly departed, and the small crowd of about 50 people that had gathered applauded.
Stemberger stated, "I have never in my life seen such unprofessional and bizarre behavior from a law enforcement officer. This man in uniform was abusing his authority and trying to bully law abiding citizens from exercising core first amendment rights simply because he disagreed with them. This is unacceptable and a disgrace to the thousands of good cops in Florida that put their lives on the line every day to protect our families and our liberties. If we do not stand up to this type of abuse of power then our constitutional rights will continue to be violated."
This kind of ridiculous harassment and intimidation was meant to thwart the effort to protect marriage in Florida. It should remind all of us that we are engaged in a culture war, and we need to continue to press forward and support the goal of completing the gathering of the 611,009 petitions needed to place this critical Florida state amendment on the ballot in 2008
http://www.flfamily.org/ffpcnew1.php#67