It’s been nine months since a kid who’d raised more red flags than a North Korean military parade murdered seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In the days and weeks following that horror, it was revealed that officials at the school, the district, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and even the FBI had multiple opportunities to both improve the school’s security and intervene with the shooter directly as a result of multiple incidents and warnings they’d received. None of them did anything.
Given what we’ve learned about virtually everyone at every level of responsibility surrounding the Parkland shooting — plus the last two weeks’ hijinks involving the recent midterm elections — the only possible conclusion is that Broward County, Florida is suffering from metastatic incompetence and corruption on a level rarely seen outside a Central American kleptocracy.
The South Florida Sun Sentintel’s David Fleshler and Megan O’Matz published an excellent article last week recounting the cascading blunders and jaw-dropping failures that directly contributed to those seventeen dead bodies and seventeen more wounded. Fleshler and O’Matz note that, despite the rampant misfeasance, only a couple of lower level deputies had been disciplined as a result of the carnage. One was suspended for three days and another received a written reprimand.
The only employee of any note who’s no longer earning a paycheck (though he has generous retirement benefits), is Scot Peterson, the MSDHS school resource officer who notoriously stayed outside the building, listening to the sounds of gunfire inside while innocent people were being slaughtered. He resigned rather than be suspended in February, days after the shooting.
Now, though, after the commission that’s been investigating the shooting released some of its findings, a higher level Broward County Sheriff’s Office figure has resigned and another has been placed on administrative leave.
Jan Jordan, the captain formerly in charge of the Parkland division, resigned several days after she was widely criticized by a state commission for her role leading the response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.
She cited “personal reasons” in her separation form.
What were the actions for which Jordan was criticized?
Capt. Jan Jordan, the sheriff’s Parkland district commander, was “overwhelmed,” a Coconut Creek Deputy Chief Greg Lees told commission investigators. “I could see it,” he said. “I tried to help her.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Stephen O’Neill described Jordan’s manner of speech during the crisis as “dream-like” and called the command structure “ineffective” and “not engaged with the problem.”
Worse, it was Jordan who ordered that responding officers set up a perimeter around the school rather than moving in and engaging the shooter, which has been the standard police tactic designed to save lives in active shooter situations since Columbine.
And then there’s Sgt. Brian Miller, who was the first supervisory level law enforcement officer to arrive during the shooting.
“He sat up on Holmberg Road for 10 minutes,” said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the state commission investigating the shooting. “He heard gunshots and he didn’t move. He never got on the radio. He was the first supervisor on the scene, and he never moved, even after deputies and officers were going into that building.”
Miller has been put on paid leave pending an investigation into his response that day.
And that’s it. Everyone else in any position of authority in Broward County is still on the job. That includes MSD principal Ty Thompson and his assistant principals, Boward County Schools superintendent Robert Runcie (who rated himself “highly effective” in a recent self-evaluation), and, of course, the one-man clown show that is Broward County Sheriff Scott “Amazing Leadership” Israel.
Some have called on Israel to resign, but Israel told the Sun Sentinel on Tuesday: “I have done nothing wrong that would warrant me to leave office. I’m committed to the Broward Sheriff’s Office and to the citizens who put me in office.”
Israel said he will remain on the job for “as long as the citizens want me to.”
Seventeen dead teachers and students, seventeen more injured, clearly-demonstrated disastrous inaction and mistakes in the response, and not one person has lost his or her job as a result of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. .
In fact, the only people who have paid a price for what happened that day (besides the dead and their grieving relatives) in Parkland are the law-abiding gun-owners of Florida. In the weeks following the murders, all the usual suspects conspired to push through a series of gun control measures which will do precisely nothing to stop the next broken individual from committing the same kind of atrocity.
Andy Pollack, father of one of the slain teens, called on other public servants to step down, too — those who shrunk from confronting the gunman or failed to provide Cruz with the proper psychiatric care and educational services.
“My daughter was murdered,” he said. “Now step up and accept responsibility for all your failed tactics that day and leading up to the 14th. The mental health caseworkers and the school administrators — they need to start coming clean.”
We wish the citizens of Broward County good luck.
Scott should have removed Israel from power. He didn’t, and Israel was free to support voter fraud which cost us Ag Commissioner. Scott only gave a damn about this corruption when it effected him personally.
They should all hang their heads in shame or preferably hang themselves for their shame.
Androgynous much?
Yes, it took a while to realize that it was a woman proudly standing beside that squad car. However, many women (straight, lesbian, or whatever new sexual orientation is the flavor of the day) can be competent law enforcement officers. …and men, too! Men and women are born with the same potentials for honesty or corruption, diligence or sloth, self-sacrificing bravery or craven cowardice, moral rectitude or depravity, and intelligence or stupidity. The Parkland incident has examples of men and women both failing to perform as the situation demanded, with catastrophic results. My prayers go out to the victims and their families. I also have prayers for those who bungled the situation; they are burdened with the cognitive disonance of having failed at their duties and having to reconcile (with themselves and their maker) why it all went wrong. They should be told to resign their jobs and “…to go home and rethink your life.”
Can an elected Governor unilaterally get rid of an elected Sheriff?
I believe the law allows it but only in certain conditions. I don’t think Scott legally has the power without a report/investigation into it to be the basis for the removal. When the report comes out, I think the new Governor will have the ability to remove the amazing leadership clown.
The problem with broward though is the voters. The voters reelected every one of the school committee and that committee is FULLY behind the principal and superintendent of schools. Remember hillary and nearly ever democrat gets 70% plus of the vote in Broward, they’re leftist morons in that county.
Again we here get SCREWED. As long as Israel is still the sheriff here. Justice isn’t being done by us local residents. The captain while useless and incompetent is a partial scapegoat in this tragedy. Many more in the Broward Sherrifs dept need to go.
This sort of performance by government officials is typical.
It’s not going to end well if the only solution politicians have for the “gun problem” is more gun-control. Even if “polls show” that an overwhelming majority think Broward County’s performance in the Parkland school shooting is exemplary, a large minority of us know better.
Moreover, we understand politics by means other than stuffing the ballot box.
This is what Democrats do. In California, they stopped managing the forests. 2 years ago, Governor vetoed a bill that would allow the state and utilities to clean up the 129 million dead trees and the brush underneath to prevent forest fires. Dozens of people dead and thousands of homes destroyed, and the left blames Trump and global warming. Heck, they even blames a hurricane on Bush. The Democrat Party could care less about the lost lives and fixing problems. It is all about grabbing power, and the biggest obstacle to their end goal of dominion over the American people is the 2nd amendment.
Say what you will about Chicago but the rookie cop murdered at Mercy Hospital ran TOWARD the gunfire. Scott is barely better than the Israel idiot…
I think on average Chicago cops have more guts that most. Kind of comes with the job description.
They also are pretty good shots often going 15 for 15 on the alledged perp.
They’re certainly not afraid to go toe to toe with a 100lb. barmaid…
We need laws on the books to prosecute office holders for negligence. People whose negligence cost 17 innocent lives should swing.
Every office should have a detailed job description of how We the People expect them to execute their duties, and what exactly those duties are. It is one thing if someone tries their best at a job and they still fail despite their efforts, and another thing if they fail to execute their duties entirely and then innocent people get hurt. The latter should be prosecuted. I think we’d have a lot less corruption in the country if we put elected officials in jail more often.
The Supreme Court ruled that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm. So how exactly do you recommend that we prosecute anyone?
But we can always remove rights with “red flags”, so I guess that is still an option.
If the police don’t have a duty to protect, then there’s literally no point to them and they should be disbanded entirely. The Supreme Court got it wrong.
Police dont have a legal duty to protect but they can still be fired for cowardice. Police exist so municipalities have more control over how laws are enforced within city limits rather than rely on the whims of an elected county official. You see it in California where there are red cities in blue counties and vice versa. Dampens some of the political shenanigans.
County Sheriff is a constitutional office. I have no doubt that the Florida Constitution and a whole pile of state statutes spell out the duties of a county sheriff in explicit detail.
The performance review – determining whether or not the sheriff has properly executed those duties – is the job of the voters. Sheriff Israel will have his day in the court of public opinion.
Oh yes, fire him, but he can’t be prosecuted for not protecting you. But don’t worry, putting people on a “list” will 😉
I don’t care what side of any debate we are discussing. I’m tired of “solutions” being MORE DAMN LAWS. We have too many of those already. How about we hold people responsible for their actions instead? Enforce any number of the millions of existing laws already stuffed into big fat law books? [end rant]
You mean they might actually earn their salary?
17 dead kids and staff too late!
What would you be saying if Deputy Peterson ran to the sound of gunfire and shot a good guy with a gun? Should the cops rush in or assess the situation first. Make up your mind.
You can “assess” the situation without hiding behind fire doors while people are dying like a worthless cowardly piece of shit.
Well they didn’t Jackwad. COWARDS! Tell me oh smart one what could the four of them ascertain hiding outside? You run to the gunfire, you push through and engage!
As usual, this goes right over your head. If you rush into s gun fight before you get SA there is a good chance for friendly fire. If you wait to get SA people die.
The point was not what the SRO did or did not do. It is your Monday morning quarterbacking no matter what they do.
Die a HERO or die a COWARD, death always wins. In the Army we pushed through and engaged.
I seriously doubt you have ever been in a world of shit? We sure as Hell couldn’t count on you. Who are you to quarterback? All you need to do is stay out of the way.
Where were you on 9-11? I was at DC’s Ground Zero and I was back on the job on the 12th.
And I am not the one is quarterbacking sparky. You guys are
I was in Pennsylvania on 9-11.
I spent a year with the 196th LIB, Da Nang not exactly quarterbacking. I wouldn’t have left those kids to die. COWARDS. I hope they find no peace in this life or the next.
Which makes you qualified to Monday Quarterback the police how? In fact drawing on your military service probably makes you even less qualified to Monday Morning QBing the police unless you MP/SP.
Typical police line, your not trained like us. Your not qualify to tell us what we get wrong.
If hiding is part of the training while kids are slaughtered I’m ok not having the training. Army or Marine Infantry aren’t going to hid while kids die. Now with the police it’s a carp shoot. Maybe they will come, maybe they will come out . Broward County COWARDS Sheriff’s Department. They earned it.
By the way we did it without body armor.
I don’t Monday Morning QB any LE that has the cojones to engage an active shooter.
I only do it when they don’t. (Have them)
You’re doing the false dilemma thing? Seriously? Very bad form, even for you.
Looks like I hit a nerve. You see a false dilemma when none was presented. Every situation where the police need to use force is unique and fraught with chance of making a bad decision and bad decisions will be made. That’s why police have qualified immunity. If they didn’t the would all act like Deputy Peterson.
Afterthought. You can’t get by the immediate topic. Open up your eyes I’m critiquing the critiquers. I have not said anything one way or another about the Sheriff’s office. But like most of the remaining TTAG commentariet you act as if you have zero memory of past incudents
It sounds like what you are suggesting is that it is better for the police to form a perimeter than charge in for fear of making a mistake. Before Columbine, that was how police were trained. I remember the training where you set up a perimeter, a command post, and attempt to contact the bad guy. Columbine changed all that. It was determined that In a mass shooting the more time it takes to confront the shooter, the more people die. Nationally, police changed how they respond to mass shootings, and they charge in. Guess what, it actually works. In scenarios where a god guy with a gun is already there, well, the situation seldom gets classified as a mass shooting…and it seldom makes national news. Did Broward County Sheriff screw up? Absolutely. As I remember, when other police departments responds, some ignored the Sheriffs call to stand down.
I think public executions for cowardice in the face of the enemy and dereliction of duty might be in order. These clowns want to tool around pretending to be military? Fine. Let’s get the courts-martial rolling.
It still boils my blood when I see a pathetic civilian pice of shit with four stars on his collar that he didn’t earn.
“Pretending to be military” you nailed it. I call it stolen Honor.
Andy Pollack, father of one of the slain teens, has the right idea. He needs to keep it up taking every opportunity to tie Israel and Runcie to the incident. It will be difficult to deny his moral standing to speak out.
In time, Israel will come up for reelection. Volunteer to make campaign appearances for one of his opponents. It was Israel’s SRO and sergeant who hid outside rather than engage Cruz. It was his captain who kept others out of the building. It was his deputies who failed to act when called to deal with Cruz’s misbehavior at home.
When Runcie’s contract comes up for reapproval, address his failures at a school board meeting and demand his dismissal.
For almost every cop, making it to a cushy retirement is the ultimate goal. All one has to do is look at the (in)action of the police officers during the last number of mass school shootings, where these “trained professionals” SAT ON THEIR HANDS while the carnage was going on. You can bet that us military veterans in such a case would be drawn TOWARD the sound of gunfire. Today’s human nature dictates that the person with all of the “training” (especially) law enforcement DOES cower in fear, while a 90 lb. armed teacher would reluctantly, but successfully take out the shooter. Being forced into a situation also forces one to act. There are many examples of persons, who one would normally think, would not be capable of acting in an extremely high-stress situation, but DO come out on top-stopping the threat, and saving lives. Sad to say, today’s police practices dictate that the cop’s life is MORE IMPORTANT than that of those he has sworn to protect despite the cops having statutory protections that do not apply to us ordinary civilians.
All one has to do is look at the Medal of Honor recipients, who are almost always mild-mannered, initially reluctant to act, but DO act, and perform feats who most would think are normally beyond their capacity and capabilities TRUE bravery in the heat of battle. The same applies to those civilians who act during school shootings.
Human nature has a habit of propelling (actually forcing) the normal, average person into a true hero and life saver, while showing the true (cowardly behavior) nature of those we assign to protect us. A good example of our protectors cowering in fear is the deputies who FAILED TO ACT despite having all of the equipment necessary and the preferential laws on their side (that protect them from lawsuits and liability).
TRUE heroes ACT, while our so-called protectors (failed to) REACT…
The new AG secretary is going to make it her life’s mission to impede CCW licenses as much as possible.
She really wont be able to much if anything about CCPs here. You take a picture have your prints taken. Take a 4 hour class. No criminal record or any negatives. Permits in the mail 90 days or alot less. We is a “Shall issue” state.
She cant do anything about it.
She ‘claims’ to own a gun and has a carry permit.
We’ll see what she does…
Careful there. Look at Maura Healey.
“Sheriff’s Lt. Stephen O’Neill described Jordan’s manner of speech during the crisis as “dream-like” and called the command structure “ineffective” and “not engaged with the problem.””
That’s actually a common response to a catastrophe. They simply cannot believe what is happening and it stuns them.
Their brains simply shut down and they just stand around in a catatonic state. They behave like herd animals.
That behavior has been documented in several mass-casualty fires, the most famous was the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire.
There is an *excellent* book on the subject, ‘The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why’ by Amanda Ripley :
https://www.amazon.com/Unthinkable-Survives-When-Disaster-Strikes/dp/0307352900
Unfortunately, there’s no good way to test people if they have that tendency. You find out only when they fail the test…
I hope Gov. DeSantis removes every single Broward official that he has the power to. That cesspit needs a powerwashing from the top down.
I call Scot Peterson “the coward of broward”.
Remember, you don’t need a gun because the police will protect you…
If the idiots of Broward re-elect Scott Israel then they deserve him.
It’s their children who were murdered. I care about those children as much as Broward cares, and not a bit more.
All this kind of behavior by public officials, police, politicians and other so-called “public servants” will continue just as it is until such time as they can be held personally legally liable and accountable for their actions or in-actions.
In my personal experience I have met and known of a small few “public servants” who are worth the title. Most are either busy gaming the system they’re in to maximize their own pay/benefits or trying to keep their heads down and get to retirement so the public can continue to pay lavish and excessively generous benefit packages such as lifetime medical, dental, optical, mental health and exceedingly generous retirement pay not seen in the private sector. Here’s an idea—how about we hold up these lifetime benefit packages and make their payment contingent on good behavior and doing the right thing?
If a soldier at Little Rock High in 1957 reacted to the enemy the way Peterson did, he would have been executed for cowardice!
It’s not just incompetence, it’s corruption, through and through.
And will live easily on its SIX FIGURE income. Thanks tax payers!
Oh, well, they’ll just replace her with another diversity hire to fill some quota…
The hard truth is the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that police owe no legal duty to protect individual citizens from harm. In fact, police have more of a legal obligation to protect your dead body then your live body. While cowardice is cause for termination, there is a huge grey area in timing, between correctly evaluating the situation and properly advising superiors of the situation, then advancing and confronting and simply running in stupid and getting yourself killed. Every police officer wants to go home to their family every night and I support them in the use of caution and force, but not cowardice. A dead armed police officer is of no use to anyone and may make the situation worse.
So this means you are on your own in an emergency, both child and adult. Various emergency training is a forgotten subject that should be taught in every school. So who is going to protect you and your family? The Founding Fathers and the 2nd Amendment have it right, you are responsible, if you choose to be defenseless, we wish you the best luck with that but don’t try to make other people responsible for your safety then blame them for your troubles!
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