scott israel
Incompetent former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

By Kelli Kennedy and Frieda Frisaro, Associated Press

Florida’s governor failed to justify suspending the sheriff whose department responded to mass shootings at a Parkland high school and the Fort Lauderdale airport, a state Senate official said.

In a blow to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Senate special master Dudley Goodlette called for the reinstatement of former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel in a report released Wednesday.

Goodlette, who had been appointed by the Senate to look into the suspension process, said DeSantis did not prove the charges in suspending Israel in January.

“While the governor has offered a plethora of criticism, he has not shown that Sheriff Israel’s policies, procedures or trainings on active shooter situations were inconsistent with Florida law enforcement standards,” Goodlette wrote. He added that the shooting was the culmination of “individual failures,” especially on the part of Scot Peterson , the school resource officer on duty that day.

Israel had argued that DeSantis had overreached his authority and suspended him for political reasons, and sought an award for his legal fees in defending his efforts to be reinstated.

The Florida Senate is scheduled to determine Israel’s fate during a special session set to begin Oct. 21.

Goodlette declined to award fees. He said there was some evidence that at first glance could seem to support the governor’s position and that “this was not a situation of executive overreach” on the part of DeSantis.

Goodlette collected evidence and held two days of hearings on the matter in June.

The governor’s office did not immediately comment when reached by phone on Wednesday.

Isreal’s attorneys say they’re optimistic the Senate president and the rest of the Senate will allow him to resume his position as sheriff.

“This is not a time for politics, but for doing the right thing in support of real evidence and the law,” according to a statement from Israel’s attorneys. They said Israel is committed to working with the community in the wake of the shootings to “find solutions.”

Israel’s suspension came after intense criticism, particularly over his handling of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018.

Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the shooting, said Wednesday, “I feel like someone just punched me in the stomach.”

Alhadeff and several other Parkland parents had pushed the governor to remove Israel, a Democrat. Calls for Israel’s ouster began shortly after the shooting when it was revealed that Peterson, the school’s resource officers, had not gone into the building to confront the shooter, but sought cover outside.

A former student was arrested shortly after the shooting and faces 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Israel also came under fire for a shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in January 2017. A gunman who had flown from Alaska opened fire with a handgun he had brought in checked luggage, killing five people and wounding six others. Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, a diagnosed schizophrenic, eventually pleaded guilty to the shooting and is serving a life sentence.

___

Associated Press writer Curt Anderson in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.

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75 COMMENTS

    • Hillary’s buddy. He’ll be back in place just in time to play meatshield over Broward County’s next round of generating and secretly ‘counting’ truckloads of fraudulent votes, .. for an extra week, .. until they turn critical swing-state Florida Blue for the 2020 election.

      Their bullpen is very thin. Always seeing the same few players forced into key positions at all costs.

  3. The GLOBALIST sponsored gov’t of Florida apparently enjoys THIS kind of criminal inconvenience…

    Remember that ALL politicians ARE simply front men for their GLOBALIST paymasters. VERY few exceptions.

  4. On the upside, this idiot provides a great example that the police aren’t required to help you at all.

  5. Scott Isreal is the epitome of narcissism. If he had a modicum of shame he would have resigned. As a commander you are always responsible for what those under you do and you take responsibility for it.

  6. Guys. Settle down. This guy can’t “order” anything. His decision is completely non binding. The Senate has final authority in this and will vote one way or another Expect Republicans to all vote to keep Israel out of office and they will be joined by some dems. It’s not politically a winner to side with Israel even for dems

  7. Now the real question is if the dum dum get his job back, how long is he going to hang on until someone challenge him in the next election cycle.

    • Nobody would be an easier primary opponent than this incomprehensibly incompetent clown; well, except AOC.

  8. The shooting represented the culmination of many individual failures — but almost all of those failures were by personnel of the Sheriff’s Department.

    Even if reinstated now and not removed by the state senate, I strongly doubt that he has any chance of being elected again.

    • But if he gets reinstated he’ll get back pay, attorney’s fees, and a sweet sweet retirement package.

      • don,t give up on Fl.s senate yet they will be hearing from a bunch of us by tomorrow phone lines will be jammed most likely and you got to remember its election time heck I might have to check out where my senator is going to be next few days if it’s in Tallahassee might have to take a hours ride and visit him

  10. We live in a nation of men, not laws. Looks like it’s time for me to become someone’s loyal vassal. I wonder if any of the Caesar’s are still available?

  13. How come the nra doesn’t arm kids. I thought they were supposed to teach them how to shoot so that they could defend themselves. Like if it was an elementary school ot would be hard to train children but in middle school you could have at least a few 8th graders packing. They just don’t want kids making school resource officers looking bad. Can you imagine the shame of being replaced by a kid? That’s got to be humilating.

    But yeah nra and independent clubs should get kids as young as possible and arm them so they do not turn into traitors would want commies to take away everyone’s guns. How come Beto said he was going to take away citizens ar15 but not the governments. Is he saying he trusts government but not citizens? How can you ask people to vote for you when you do not even respect or trust them and are essentially at war with them? That seems disingenuous.

    They put a bunch of cops in school and used cute names like resource officer to cover up what they are really doing. More rules, more authority figures, more restrictions on freedom and less actual teaching. Are schools even worth the expense anymore? How do they prepare kids for the job market or life? They are just being bullied into sharing certain political views under threat of no job or bad life if they don’t. Someone ought to do something about this.

    The schools do not teach, the cops do not protect, and the government/politicians/media lie. I do not want to give them anymore money or taxes because they are bad.

    • I totally agree. But it would be better if certain juniors and seniors that were responsible could have AR-15’s in their lockers. And yes, I’m serious.

  14. Is anyone surprised? They need people like the “good” sheriff to be in power. If they have someone competent then future mass shootings could be avoided. They need fresh blood because the “I haven’t read the transcript but we are moving forward” impeachment has took all the wind out of the gun control sails until then.

    • “Unfuckingbelievable.”

      It’s Florida, Jake.

      You better believe it…

    • I mean, *technically* those kids all died of massive nervous & circulatory system damage, and not being shot. Just like Israel didn’t *technically* pull the trigger, but instead put into place the environment of dangerous lawlessness & reckless abandonment of security to incompetent cowards that allowed the attack to be so horrendous.

  17. I’m a huge believer in the “elections have consequences” principle and that people generally get the government they deserve. Therefore I am loathe to remove a duly elected official from office outside of an election.

    Nevertheless, there are extreme scenarios–far beyond just “I don’t like the guy”, “I want to overturn the last election and won’t wait until the next election”, or “He’s a fool and embarrassment to the office” reasons–where it is justified.

    When someone is so grossly inept that his single handed and continued pilotage of a public entity itself poses a clear and present danger to the lives of the public, then it’s time to yank him from the helm. Such is the case here.

    • Yeah… at some point when the guy you didn’t vote for is so incompetent that it’s killing kids, it becomes a little more close to home than principles of democracy in action.

  18. Headline is wrong. Calls for his reinstatement. Bad enough though.

    This is what happens when the idiots in charge of the Florida Senate try to deflect criticism by appointing someone to take the heat from the Democrats. Now they will have even more pressure, but they risk losing their own next election if they put the Amazing Barney Fife back in charge by reinstating him.

  19. … the shooting was the culmination of “individual failures,” …

    And because the supervisors of these individuals can pull down big pay and benefit packages without any real responsibility for the actions of those individuals, the buck never stops.

  20. “The Florida Senate is scheduled to determine Israel’s fate during a special session set to begin Oct. 21.”

    A wholesale electoral slaughter of Republicans is coming if they do anything but slap Isreal down.

  21. Nobody in government pays a penalty anymore, no matter how despicable their performance is. They all skate now. One set of laws for them, another set of laws for us.

  23. The Liberals and the Left are cheering. Libertarians???
    The state of Florida is incapable of protecting its citizens.

  24. If only Scott Israel could simply fall in a tank of HCl. He’s one of the biggest pieces of shit of all time. Pure fucking garbage. Short of the tank of acid, pancreatic cancer is too good for him.

    • “If only Scott Israel could simply fall in a tank of HCl.”

      Hydrochloric acid is a valuable industrial commodity, seems a shame to contaminate it like that.

      How about taking him 250 miles offshore and seeing if he can swim to shore?

  26. “Special Master”…like YODA?!? Sadly this is far from the worst thing I’ve seen today😫😢

  30. SPECIAL MASTERBATER is a more appropriate title for the idiot who recommend Israel be reinstated.

    The Broward County Sheriffs office is a highly political agency in a highly politicized and hard core democratic county in Florida. If you dont lick the boots of the highest democrats in Broward county you will never get a Sheriffs or non bargaining unit police job there.
    Israel is operational in the democratic party and big Obama-Hillary backer. That also helps him lock in the counties minority voters. Israel is a backer of gun control and wants all AR-15 rifles banned and taken from the good citizens of Broward County. Israel partnered with Obamas pal and Broward County Schools administrator Runcie who coddled and protected criminal juveniles from jail and purged their criminal records. They followed Obamas federal schools programs of keeping bad criminal kids out of jail which endangered the good kids and members of the community. It was this obedience to Obamas policies that resulted in the High School Massacre in Parkland Florida by an evil monster who should have been locked up in a mental institution.

    There are a lot of good men and women working in the Broward County Sheriffs Office who deserve a better leader for Sheriff. But its up to the voters of the county, so its certain the next Sheriff of Broward will be pushing for gun bans, magazine size limits, and the right for local governments to enact their own gun laws, which in Broward County will be a gun free county with a life sentence for possession of a spent .22 casing.

    For a cops view of the Broward Sheriffs office and other police agencies in the US look here:

    http://forums.leoaffairs.com/forumdisplay.php?280-Broward-County-Sheriff-s-Office

  33. They will happily pass unconstitutional laws to confiscate legal property from innocent citizens, but refuse to find any government official who fails to enforce existing laws accountable. Getting fed up with this tyrannical bullshit.

  35. DeSantis was right to remove this dope from office. However, that was going to be a temporary solution at best, until the next election. At that time, you can count on the voters of Broward County to elect someone much the same (or maybe even worse, if that’s possible) as Israel.

  38. Why, with such a bottomless well of chutzpah, narcissism, incompetence, lack of conscience and devil may care attitude to tap into I predict that Scott will soon become a state senator or even the governor of Florida. I dare say even a candidate for POTUS! The Dems political machinery is precisely designed to ensure that the scum floats to the top. The narrative will be, heroic Democratic top cop battles the evil Republicans and NRA and wins! He was scapegoated because of a lack of Gun control!! Children!!! You’ll see.

  39. Nope. It was suggested the governor reinstall the x sheriff. What you want to bet this “master” is from the Northeast………

  40. Whoever his boss is should assign him to guard a mop closet. Nothing else. Also, uniform inspection every day upon reporting. Make him re-qualify for firearms, make him police up the area every day. How about PT every morning at 6 AM for starters. Lets not forget the obstacle course; timed of course. Plus anything else degrading the boss can think of for him to spend his time.

  42. You must be joking. Certainly they could simply promote someone else on merit? Or is the entire department that rotten that such is impossible?

  44. As usual;

    Government service is the one area where failure is not sufficient cause for termination of employment.

    I’m not sure the swamp could ever be drained enough to end this practice. Basically only a full “reboot” of government at all levels could cure that mess.

  45. We don’t need that bum in Fl, much less back at his former position. Didn’t he collaborate with the Board of Education to let school internally handle what were in fact arrestable/chargable criminal offenses. This was so the Schools/School Districts could show much lower crime statistics: even though there was no reduction just a change to what’s reportable after everything shifted to In House instead of LE Action taken. This in turn allowed the School/Districts to receive millions of dollars in Grants base on their fraudulent school crime reduction statistics. It also allowed the murderer to continue to create problems at severl schools before the shooting. LE and the FBI also blew two specific tips that he was planning to shoot up a school. One of those falls in the disgraced Sheriff’s lap as does the Response from his officers: all who stayed outside and screwup on scene command.

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