Did law enforcement go overboard on an inspection of the only women’s sports bar in Philadelphia?

Viral videos that show roughly a dozen Philadelphia and state police officers flooding into a women’s sports bar to investigate the lesbian-owned business have raised questions about whether the city went overboard on a routine bar inspection. Conflicting accounts of what led to the inspection have clouded the matter further.

Video posted to Instagram last week by South Street nightlife chronicler @southstreetphilly showed 12 masked and unmasked police officers leaving Marsha’s at 430 South St. on Feb. 20. The footage was in line with how bar owner Chivonn Anderson described the event in a since-deleted statement on Marsha’s Instagram account.

“Authorities advised us that the inspection followed a second anonymous complaint received within 30 days of a prior call. The complaint alleged that Marsha’s was serving underaged patrons, selling alcohol after permitted hours, and operating without proper licenses,” Anderson said over security-camera footage depicting what she counted as 16 police officers entering the bar.

According to Anderson, officers issued no citations that night. The bar “strictly [adheres] to all applicable laws governing age verification and hours of operation,” she said.

“We will continue to operate with integrity, transparency, and pride,” Anderson concluded. “And of course, go Birds.”

The videos have received tens of thousands of views and generated discourse about the size and scope of a routine bar inspection in Philadelphia. Many wondered if Marsha’s, an LGBTQ+ space, received standard treatment.

“16 cops over a ‘routine inspection’ seems a bit crazy,” one person commented under @southstphilly’s video. “All that for an inspection?” wrote another. Others asked why the officers were covering their faces.

“For an investigation like this, the amount of [officers] really threw me off,” Anderson told The Inquirer. “To me, this is just a ridiculous waste of resources.”

Marsha’s opened in September as Philly’s first dedicated women’s sports bar, named after LGBTQ+ civil rights activist Marsha P. Johnson. Airing women’s sports alongside games from all Philly teams, the bar is open to all but has quickly become a favorite of Philly’s lesbian community, which has lacked a dedicated space to drink, dance, or root for the home team since the Toasted Walnut closed during the pandemic.

» READ MORE: Marsha’s, Philly’s first women’s sports bar, opens tonight. It will be like ‘going to your favorite aunt’s house.’

Anderson said February’s incident wasn’t the first time an anonymous tip had led officials to her business’ front door: In late January, she said, inspectors with the Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections showed up after receiving an anonymous tip that Marsha’s was operating without proper licensing.

Records show L&I carried out an inspection at Marsha’s on Jan. 20. In an email, L&I spokesperson Kandyce Stukes said the department received a complaint the week prior alleging that the bar had hosted live performances and DJs without the required license.

“During the inspection, the business was cited for operating without a valid food license and fire code violations” which would’ve made them eligible for an immediate cease operations order, Stukes wrote. However, Anderson provided documentation showing efforts to apply for the license and was granted additional time, Stukes added. Marsha’s has had proper licensing since late February, said Stukes.

According to Stukes, the first inspection took place around 7:30 on a Tuesday evening, and no police officers were present.

That was in contrast to the late February inspection, which took place just after 11:30 on a busy Friday night. Anderson, who wasn’t present at the time, said Marsha’s general manager reported more than a dozen police officers were “wandering around the bar with their flashlights out.” Several patrons were inside.

“My general manager was told that [police] were there because they received an anonymous complaint that we were serving alcohol to underage patrons and doing sales after hours, and then also operating without licenses,” Anderson told The Inquirer. “They looked around. They asked to see our invoices, to make sure that we buy all of our alcohol from the state of Pennsylvania — which we do — and that kind of was about it.”

Records show that Marsha’s has had an active liquor license since October and has received no citations from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Marsha’s is also not considered a nuisance bar, according to Philadelphia Police spokesperson Sergeant Eric Gripp.

The incident left Marsha’s staff shaken, Anderson said. After police left, the bar closed for the remainder of the night, missing out on $2,000 to $2,500 in sales. “My staff needed time just to recover and sit with what they just experienced,” said Anderson.

Anderson also isn’t sure who, if anyone, called in the anonymous tips.

“After the first [inspection], I told my staff, ‘I think we have a saboteur,’” Anderson said. “We don’t know who it is. It could be a potential disgruntled ex-employee. It could be someone who is just upset at what we’re doing. But that’s not gonna deter us.”

Law enforcement officials gave mixed accounts of the anonymous tips that supposedly underpinned the inspections, with the Philadelphia Police Department saying it didn’t receive any.

State police spokesperson Sergeant Rayna Todd said over email that three officers with the agency’s Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement were called to assist roughly 10 Philadelphia police officers with a compliance check after Philadelphia police received a tip that minors were being served alcohol at Marsha’s.

“No direct complaints were received by this office,” Todd wrote over email. No state police officers were instructed to wear face coverings during the inspection, she said.

“The PPD did not receive such a complaint” about underage drinking either, Gripp wrote. He did not immediately respond to questions about how state police and Marsha’s employees got that impression.

February’s incident was part of “a standard compliance check” that is carried out on a monthly basis in tandem with state police officers and L&I inspectors. Marsha’s was one of 17 businesses police visited that night, Gripp said.

Gripp declined to verify the number of officers dispatched to Marsha’s that night, citing safety concerns, but said there was a mix of uniformed city police and plainclothes officers with the city’s Vice unit present.

“Staffing depends on the nature of the operation, safety considerations, and the roles of partner agencies,” he wrote.

Vice officers — who investigate illegal gambling and alcohol activity — were instructed to wear face coverings, Gripp said. “Vice personnel routinely work undercover assignments. Protecting their identities helps preserve their ability to continue that work,” he wrote.

Recently proposed City Council legislation that would ban all law enforcement operating in Philadelphia from concealing their identities by wearing masks on the job. The incident has also resurfaced concerns about a legacy of law enforcement aggressively policing LGBTQ+ spaces in Philly: During his time as police commissioner in the 1960s and 1970s, former Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo had a reputation for instructing police to raid businesses suspected of having gay patrons.

Anderson said her bar remains undeterred by what some have branded excessive police activity.

“We don’t have anything to worry about because we’re not doing anything wrong,” Anderson said.