Homosexual-activist cop threatens Christians
From the Florida Family Policy Council...
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| Sgt. Stephen Allen (right) mocks volunteers by kissing Officer M. Allard (left) after removing all petitions from the area. |
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.
"I have filed the complaint with internal affairs. They are doing a good-faith investigation because they've called me several times. I know that the officer's retained counsel," [John Stemberger] said.
"No one would have ever believed our story without that photograph. That photograph really captures the attitude that we were approached with," he said.
The camera was a fortunate circumstance, he said, because one volunteer said she always carried one around. Her tape recorder, however, didn't work, he said.
If people forget about it, and let them get away with it the message will be sent that such blatant criminal behavior on the part of these police officers is acceptable, and that Christians should not try to exercise their Constitutional rights. These men shouldn't even be police officers with such a lack of respect for the law as they have demonstrated. If they treat people this way in public, imagine how they treat people on a lonely road after stopping them for some imaginary offense, because they have a Christian bumper sticker on their car. Such intimidation tactics need to be addressed in the strictest terms, which means these officers should be fired.
Posted by Danny Carlton at August 4, 2006 10:28 AM