Our neck of the woods will be a little more lawless than usual this weekend, thanks to the Republicans over in Tampa.
At 10:30 this morning, nearly 100 deputies from the Broward Sheriff's Office will gather at a substation in Weston before piling in for the drive across Alligator Alley. They, like politicians, journalists, and strippers from across the country, are headed to the Republican National Convention.
There, they'll be the largest sheriff's office contingent in a force of thousands.
Miami staff writer and resident Gonzo expert Mike Miller published a story this week about the Fear and Loathing-esque scene to be found in Tampa come Monday, and the insane amount of cops that will be standing guard:
[Mayor Bob] Buckhorn's stance hasn't exactly endeared him to progressives plotting to protest the convention either. They decry his plan to put them in three "clean zones" located several blocks from the Times Forum. And they fear retaliation from the 4,000 heavily armed police officers -- paid for by a $50 million Homeland Security grant -- who will cordon off downtown.Police from Miami will be there, along with the BSO deputies. "Among Florida sheriff's offices, BSO is sending the largest contingent, consisting of Field Force member deputies, trained in crowd control and managing civil unrest," writes spokesman Jim Leljedal in a press release.
"We're not going to do anything illegal," says Corey Uhl, head of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of South Florida. "But with the recent frameups of NATO protesters in Chicago, you never know what the government will do."
There could be even more mayhem on the other side of the state if Hurricane Isaac becomes a thing and bears down on the town. Between natural disaster and Code Pink vagina costumes, people might get distracted from gawking at us for a few days. Who knows what we'll get up to.
Follow @NewTimesBroward
