[GovernmentShrinker]

I suspect there's more to the story. This report isn't exactly from an unbiased source. Police officers are generally loathe to blatantly violate civil rights laws, as it tends to leave them with heavily garnished paychecks for the rest of their lives, with the people whose rights they trampled on getting the $$. Doing something like this in front of hundreds of witnesses would be both career and financial suicide, unless there were solid justifications not mentioned in this story. Promise Keepers is pretty big outfit -- shouldn't they have filed suit by now, if this really went down just as reported? I note that the police officers in question departed when told to by a "civic center official", suggesting that there may have been some initial miscommunication about whether the petition booth was authorized to be there. And while the focus here is on Sgt. Allen, it also says that he was "backed up" by 4 other police officers. I'm finding it hard to believe that 5 police officers were all willing to risk losing their jobs over this, no matter how strongly they may disagree with the aims of the petition group.

[SAJ]

Agreed. That's why I included not one but two separate demurrers.

The notion of a police presence at all, though, at a paid-for exhibition booth for petition signing is at best dubious and at worst...potentially criminal.

The notion of 'authorization' is undoubtedly a straw man; either the civic center took the money or it did not. Either the booth's activities were consonant with whatever ''exhibitor's code'' was in force or they were not. However, pls note that both these conditions were known in advance to the civic center (or, at minimum, should have been known, were the civic center authorities even marginally competent), and the notion of posteriori invalidating the exhibitor's activities stinks to high Heaven. To claim, after the fact, that the exhibitors represented that they intended to do actions A, B, and C, but actually engaged in doing actions X, Y, and Z, where X, Y, and Z were violations of some sort, sounds both tinny and flat to my (admittedly somewhat cynical) ear.

Why, again, were the police there in the first place? What crime was alleged and by whom?

I'm finding it impossible to believe (to paraphrase you) that a petition-gathering group in an exhibition booth (as opposed to, say, obnoxiously button-holing passers-by a la the Hare Krishna types) constituted such a serious threat to public safety that five officers' presence was required. This simply doesn't pass the smell test.

[VeniVidiVici]

I agree.

Until I looked at the pics. Did you look at them?

[Old_Mil]

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.

Sounds like the "more to this story" is covered by the observation that these police officers are homosexuals themselves and not worried about being disciplined or losing their jobs.

I do hope they sue Sunrise for a figure with a lot of zeros behind it, however.

[subterfuge]

Police officers are generally loathe to blatantly violate civil rights laws

Ha ha ha!!! Good one GS! Cops only give a sh!t about civil rights when there is a camera rolling. Where the heck do you live?

[maine-iac7]

I'm finding it hard to believe that 5 police officers

Coming from a law enforcement family - I can understand you find it hard to believe - but, how then do you explain the obvious disdain and disrespect that this photo shows? Did someone force them to act so blatantly unprofessional>?

Sometimes, it's helpful to read the whole article - AND get a better "picture"?

[Recovering_Democrat]

Having spent a lot of time in Florida, I find it very easy to believe, especially in Broward county.