By Andrew Ryan, Sun-Sentinel News (Florida)
Three Hollywood Police SWAT team supervisors were reassigned after they changed a training schedule so officers could attend a protest supporting Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies charged in a crime-reporting scandal, according to a spokesman for the Police Benevolent Association.
The two lieutenants and the sergeant pushed back the team’s training from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Feb. 2 so officers could join other PBA members at the Broward County Courthouse.
“It’s the general consensus among the rank-and-file that this is retaliation for supporting the deputies,” said Lt. Jeff Marano, treasurer of the Broward County PBA. “It’s Hollywood payback.”
Hollywood police spokesman Capt. Tony Rode confirmed that Lt. Larry Burnstein, Lt. David Strauss and Sgt. Van Szeto had been taken off the team Wednesday, but he declined to explain why. He added the three were reassigned, not demoted.
Hollywood Chief Jim Scarberry declined to comment, Rode said.
All three supervisors declined an interview request passed through the PBA.
The approximately 20-member SWAT team is a voluntary unit that does not include additional pay, Rode said.
The two lieutenants have headed the unit since the mid-1990s, Marano said.
On Feb. 2, about 50 members of the PBA, including a contingent from Hollywood, gathered at the courthouse in Fort Lauderdale wearing red T-shirts and holding signs supporting Deputies Christopher Thieman and Christian Zapata. The two have been charged with misconduct on allegations they fudged crime statistics.
Marano said removing the men from the SWAT team is a strike against the officer’s First Amendment rights.
“It was a sign of solidarity,” Marano said, adding that schedule adjustments are common in the department. “We are allowed to assemble. It’s a constitutional right.”