BROWARD COUNTY OFFICER APOLOGIZES FOR REMARKS

Thanks to LafinGas for sending this in. My own paper, and I missed it! What struck me is Sheriff's spokesman Elliot Cohen said the tape was reviewed "a long time ago" and it was determined to have broken no department rules."There's a difference between violating department procedure and just being inappropriate," he said.

By Madeline Baró Diaz
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 10 2006


The ranking Broward Sheriff's officer shown on a training tape in which deputies made fun of protesters at a free trade summit apologized Wednesday, but said his deputies did not violate department policy.

"The comments were inappropriate and unprofessional and I shouldn't have made them," Major John Brooks said during an interview at the Sheriff's Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. "I'm apologizing to the people being talked about, I'm apologizing to the BSO and to the public."

The tape that featured Brooks was a training video made during and after protests that took place during the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in Miami. In the video, one deputy refers to the protesters as "scurrying cockroaches."

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