City Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt calls the City's aggressive crackdown on painted bodies and partial nudity at Fantasy Fest "overkill."
"I've been reading the 60 or so arrest reports and I'm embarrassed for the Police Dept.," Oosterhoudt said. I see a lot of out-of-town addresses on those reports. We invited these people here to have a good time. I don't think that, in most cases, they deserved what they got. Most of the charges were frivolous."
Oosterhoudt said that just a handful of police officers were responsible for most of the nudity-related arrests. He named Al Flowers, John Hardy and Pablo Rodriques.
"Selective enforcement? You bet," Oosterhoudt said. "In some instances, we had cops on one corner posing for photos with partially nude women, while Flowers, Hardy and Rodriques were making arrests for `indecent exposure' a block up the street.
"According to the arrest reports, Flowers seemed to be especially interested in arresting men wearing plastic penises," Oosterhoudt said. "In one case, he arrested a man who was wearing a hat that looked like a penis!"
Commissioner Oosterhoudt said that he is particularly troubled about how some of those arrested were reportedly treated at the jail.
"I understand that some young women had to wait as long as eight hours for processing— and they had to remain unclothed all that time," he said.
News releases sent out by the Key West Police Dept. before Fantasy Fest warned revelers that nudity is against the law here— but promised that cops would issue warnings before making arrests. In many cases, that apparently didn't happen, according to some of those involved.
One young woman said she noticed a police officer ogling her while she was getting her breasts painted in an open-air body painting booth. "The minute the artist finished, the cop arrested me, handcuffed my hands behind my back and took me to jail," she said. "He wouldn't even let me cover up."
"Compounding this tragedy is the fact that the State Attorney's Office apparently plans to proceed with prosecution," Oosterhoudt said. "Even the Key West Citizen editorialized this week, urging the State Attorney to drop those charges."
Assistant State Attorney said this week that she would at least review each case. But she said she had a responsibility to prosecute based on city and state law concerning public nudity.
Oosterhoudt said he planned to write letters of apology to some of those arrested.
"What happened should not have happened. But it was the result of actions by just a few out-of-control officers," he said.
"Fantasy Fest is an adult event and people should be aware of that if they want to bring their children. We waive the City's strict open container laws for this festival. Why can't we lighten up a bit on enforcement of the so-called `exposure' laws. There is no way that the `crime' of getting one's body painted during a festival promoted around the world as being outrageous warrants the abuse that many of those arrested suffered."
Oosterhoudt also told Key West The Newspaper that he has information that one of the officers involved in many of the "nudity" arrests has been investigated concerning allegations that he used a computer in the police station to view porno on the internet.
Asked about this report this week, Police officials at first denied the allegation, then refused comment.
Stay tuned.