Liberated Christians
Cyber Swing/Polyamory Resource Center
Promoting Intimacy and Other-Centered Sexuality

 

Inside Look at Police Actions in Swing Club Bust
Court Battle Coming

Source:
Guys & Dolls News Bulletin
4025 N. 39th Ave., Phoenix, AZ
(602) 278-CLUB (2582)
September 25, 2002

As many of you probably know by now, Guys & Dolls was visited by a contingent of Phoenix police. As we have repeatedly told members in the past, enforcement of the ordinance was directed at the owners, not the members. They arrested Billie who was the only owner on the premises at the time.. What you may not know is how they did it.

A minimum of ten officers barged into the lobby and then into the club like a bunch of mindless storm troopers, identified Billie, and immediately put her in handcuffs. She was told that she could turn the club over to someone else or close it. Those were her only two options. After requesting that she be allowed to change, she was escorted to the back of the club and was allowed to change completely and put on street clothes while five police officers, all male, watched. Parts of the club were searched to see if anything was going on, but no members were approached. The attitude of the arresting officer was extremely belligerent. Billie was not even allowed to take her eyeglasses which made it almost impossible to read any papers they put in front of her. And after she said she wanted to speak to her lawyer, she was informed that "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" by the lieutenant in charge of the operation. She was also informed that "This is a sting operation." It is our fervent hope that we can turn into an swarm of African bees and sting them in the ass. Formal protests will be filed for illegal and inappropriate behavior by at least two of the police officers involved. We also know that at one of the other four clubs that were raided, when asked if they had a search or arrest warrant, they said they didn't need one. No warrants or court orders were presented prior to the arrests at any of the clubs. And one club was forced to close and lock its doors. So poorly executed were the raids that the officers involved could not even say what if anything had been occurring at a specific club. One club was supposedly closed. It is the only club not engaged in the lawsuit against the city ordinance and one has to wonder who tipped them off and why?

We believe that the purpose of the raid was both to deflect the negative publicity from the Phoenix police officer who was caught recently engaging in sex with a thirteen year old boy in the boy's home and focus attention elsewhere and to encourage voters to back those political candidates in the upcoming election who want to impose their narrow morality on the multicultural and multi-religious citizens of Phoenix. If some political aspirants feel that this kind of attitude and activity is necessary to win an election, they should not be running for public office. All elected representatives of the people are sworn to uphold the Constitution. If they are not willing to do so, then let someone who is be elected. Our government is based on the separation of church and state and on the idea that people should be able to practice their personal beliefs without fear of government persecution. However in recent years it has been obvious that these officials don't even know what the Constitution is or feel that they can ignore that esteemed document that guarantees our freedoms.

The storm trooper mentality and behavior of the Phoenix Police and the illegality of the entry into the clubs by the police and the arrest of the owners attests to this. Nor are swingers clubs the only targets. Citizens should look to the upcoming election as an opportunity to say how they feel about the continuing loss of their freedoms. I personally intend to vote libertarian. THESE PEOPLE WORK FOR US AND THEY NEED TO REMEMBER IT!

Additionally, the use of police manpower was excessive and expensive, a complete waste of taxpayer money. At least fifty police officers, approximately twenty-five police cars and a mobile command center were occupying the parking lot of the Motel 6 on twenty-seventh avenue and Indian School for at least an hour to keep an eye on four handcuffed people, three of whom were female, and one of who had just been released from the hospital. Billie's question was and is, who was out on the streets dealing with robberies, murders, accidents, etc?

The whole incident was muscle-flexing grandstand by the City of Phoenix, something we can well do without, and yet another attempt to intimidate and harass. These last two goals are evident in the timing both of the incident and of the release of information to the press. The information hit the news about 5:00PM on Saturday, just in time to frighten members so they wouldn't go to the clubs. The strategy here is two pronged - intimidate into staying away from the clubs and at the same time harass club owners into more legal expenses. The City's hoped for goal is that the clubs will go broke and put themselves out of business rather than the city forcing closure which would leave them liable for loss of business.

Contrary to their hopes, all four clubs were open Saturday night. Guys & Dolls was quite well attended and we were please to see so many members turn out in support of the club. However, we apologize to those members who were prepared to enter the contest, which was not held. Billie was barely standing having gone 41 hours with 1 hour of sleep. We would also like to thank those members who offered to put up bail for Billie. Fortunately it was posted by 3am because Madison is not a great place to hang out and is so inefficient that it take almost 8 hours just to process someone, and close to 24 hours if bail isn't posted.

Finally it should be noted that a Lieutenant Morales, who seems to have been the one in charge of the incident, has stated on television that the police will go after the club owners not the members.

Guys & Dolls will continue to be open and court motions have already been filed. We hope our members will refuse to be intimidated and continue to enjoy the club.

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