Sunrise Lodge No. 80: "A Fraternal Organization"

Sunrise Lodge No.
80
P.O. Box 450086, Sunrise, FL. 33345
January 17, 2022
City Manager and Elected Officials,
The City of Sunrise Fraternal Order of Police has had enough of Chief of Police Anthony
W. Rosa’s unprofessional behavior as it relates to an open, active and confidential Internal Affairs
Investigation. FOP Lodge 80 is aware of an incident resulting in a Police Sergeant’s temporary
reassignment to Administrative Duty. We support the Sergeant receiving a fair investigative
process and await an unbiased and objective conclusion. However, we do not support Chief Rosa’s
bias, prejudicial and unprofessional behavior. Chief Rosa should not be opining as to his personal
feelings or assisting in publicly ridiculing the Sergeant to the community or his subordinates. Most
importantly, Chief Rosa should not be making provably false public statements to the media. Chief
Rosa has clearly already made up his mind as to the outcome of the investigation before the
investigation has even been thoroughly completed and before the Sergeant has even been able to
provide his side of the story. Chief Rosa’s conduct was unprofessional and unbecoming and
embarrassing to our professional law enforcement agency. Furthermore, his actions/statements
are in clear violation of the Sergeant’s procedural and substantive due process rights and his own
departmental policy and procedures.
The FOP Lodge 80 demands Chief Rosa immediately recuse himself from the Internal
Affairs investigation against the Sergeant and if necessary, any disciplinary decision making
thereafter. It is apparent that he has prematurely arrived at a conclusion without attaining all the
facts. Furthermore, Chief Rosa should be investigated under Departmental Policy and Procedure
Chapter 33, section 33.6.5.3. “Employees who are participants in an internal investigation, the
subject of the investigation, the investigator conducting the investigation, or a witnesses in the
investigation, are prohibited from willfully disclosing any information obtained pursuant to the
agency’s investigation, including but not limited to the identity of the employee under
investigation, the nature of the questions asked, information revealed, or documents furnished in
connection with a confidential internal investigation, before such complaint document, action or
proceeding becomes a public record.”
If Chief A. Rosa holds his employees accountable for their conduct in accordance with
department policy and procedures, he should be held to the very same standards.
“A Fraternal Organization”
To substantiate the FOP’s concerns aforementioned, here are the undisputed facts:
November 19, 2021, Police Sergeant’s alleged misconduct occurred.

November 24, 2021, the Police Sergeant was placed on Administrative Duty.
November 26, 2021, Police Command Staff attended patrol briefing to discuss the incident.
November 29, 2021, Police Chief A. Rosa (knowing the Internal Affairs Investigation has just
begun and not even close to completion) personally attended 5 of the 12 patrol briefings to talk
about the incident. Chief A. Rosa told officers he opened an Internal Affairs investigation after
witnessing the incident through body worn cameras. He also stated to other officers that he is the
complainant on the investigation. During the briefing, he released details about what happened
in the patrol vehicle and what occurred outside the vehicle with the two employees. He told his
supervisors and his officers in open briefing that the Police Sergeant was wrong.
December 15, 2021, WSVN 7 requested an exclusive interview with Chief A. Rosa.
January 13, 2022, WSVN 7 released the exclusive interview and body worn camera footage of the
investigation. Chief Rosa redacted the faces of all officers except the Sergeant under investigation.
Chief Rosa provided a knowingly false public statement to WSVN 7 in reference to the
alleged training provided to his police employees as it relates to their “duty to intervene”. Chief
Rosa is quoted by WSVN as saying: “This officer intervening and stopping a situation from getting
any worse is a direct reflection of the training that we (Sunrise Police Department) do do at the
police department, and I think that it’s important to note that the behavior is very unacceptable
by the sergeant, but the behavior of the officer that intervened is exactly what society’s asking their
police officers to do right now.” There have been no training classes as it relates to verbal de-
escalation nor on their duty to intervene because the Sunrise Police Department has not provided
this type of training to its road patrol officers. Sunrise Police revised their Code of Conduct policy
recently on May 18, 2021, without providing any valuable and important follow-up training. Chief
Rosa’s public statements were simply not true.
FOP Lodge 80 is the representative for our Police Officers and Sergeants. FOP Lodge #80
represents 81% of the sworn Sunrise Police Personnel. We are extremely displeased with Chief
Rosa’s unprofessional conduct during this investigation and we as an organization will not sit idle
and allow it to go unaddressed or continue. We simply demand all our members receive a fair and
impartial investigation without bias or personal prejudice as obviously displayed by Chief Rosa.
Respectfully,
Steven Negron
FOP Lodge 80 President
“A Fraternal Organization”

Sunrise Lodge No. 80: "A Fraternal Organization"

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sunrise Lodge No. 80: "A Fraternal Organization"

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sunrise Lodge No.

January 17, 2022

City Manager and Elected Officials,

November 19, 2021, Police Sergeant’s alleged misconduct occurred.

You might also like