Scott Orders FDLE To Investigate Shooting Response; Lawmakers Call For Sheriff’s Removal

February 26, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott on Sunday directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to “immediately” investigate the response of law-enforcement authorities to the mass shooting this month that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The directive came as House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, sent a letter requesting that Scott suspend Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. The letter, which was joined by 73 Republican House members, came a day after Rep. Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, called for Israel’s removal. Local Reps. Clay Ingram, Frank White and Jayer Williamson all signed the letter.

A Broward County deputy resigned Thursday after it was determined he failed to enter the school while the shooting was ongoing. Other questions have been raised about whether law enforcement adequately responded in the past to warnings about shooter Nikolas Cruz.

Scott’s directive to FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen did not detail the reasons for the request or how long the investigation could take.

During a television appearance Sunday, Israel pushed back against Hager’s removal request, which came in a letter to Scott.

“It was a shameful letter. It was politically motivated,” Israel told CNN’s Jack Tapper. “I never met that man (Hager). He doesn’t know anything about me. And the letter was full of misinformation.”

In the letter, Hager, who is chairman of the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, called for Scott to remove Israel for “neglect of duty and incompetence.” The letter Sunday from Corcoran used similar descriptions.

“Sheriff Israel’s fundamental duty is to keep the peace and protect the citizens of Broward County,” said Corcoran’s letter, posted on Twitter. “He has the power and responsibility to appoint highly-qualified deputies and to ensure they receive state-of-the-art training. Sheriff Israel failed to maintain a culture of alertness, vigilance and thoroughness amongst his deputies.”

Along with the highly publicized failure of school-resource officer Scot Peterson to enter the building during the shooting, Hager and Corcoran wrote that Israel’s agency had received numerous calls previously about threats posed by Cruz, a former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student charged with 17 counts of murder in the shooting spree.

In his letter, Hager also said other agencies, including the Florida Department of Children and Families and the FBI, did not properly follow up on signals that Cruz could be a threat.

“Sadly, he (Israel) was not the only one that ignored it,” Hager wrote. “DCF, Broward County Schools, the FBI and the BSO (Broward Sheriff’s Office) all had the pieces to put this puzzle together but failed to communicate. While you do not have authority to remove anyone at the FBI, you do have the authority to remove Sheriff Israel, and I encourage you do to so immediately.”

Scott has called for FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign over the federal agency’s acknowledged failure to follow protocol on a tip regarding the shooter. He has not made discussed changes in leadership at the Department of Children and Families, which deemed Cruz, who admitted cutting himself and planning to purchase a gun on Snapchat posts, a “low” threat to harm himself or others in late 2016

Hager blamed Israel for failing to coordinate with the Department of Children and Families and has requested that state money intended for the Broward Sheriff’s Office be redirected to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to start a pilot program in the county to better assess risk.

On Saturday, Israel sent a letter to Scott, disputing information from Hager as “riddled with factual errors, unsupported gossip and falsehoods.”

Israel wrote that Peterson was the only officer on campus at the time of the attack and that despite assertions by Hager and others, the sheriff’s office didn’t make 39 visits to Cruz’s home.

Israel agreed with Hager that the sheriff’s office received 23 calls regarding Cruz’s home but contended most were “routine” parenting issues and five involved the shooter’s brother.

Israel noted two encounters involving Cruz remain under investigation. One, for example, involved the school resource officer referring Cruz to the Department of Children and Families, which closed the case a couple of months later. He also touted the work of law-enforcement agencies, including police from Coral Springs, Sunrise and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“I am very proud of the incredible work that so many from BSO and other agencies (including CSPD, FDLE, Sunrise, FBI, ATF and others) performed on February 14,” Israel wrote. “And I am equally appalled that Rep. Hager felt the need to engage in disingenuous political grandstanding, perhaps in the hope he will garner some headlines, at the expense of the truth.”

Comments

11 Responses to “Scott Orders FDLE To Investigate Shooting Response; Lawmakers Call For Sheriff’s Removal”

  1. David Huie Green on March 1st, 2018 8:19 pm

    CONSIDERING:
    ” Since Columbine, all agencies have to go through active shooter training. ”

    “The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999″

    “Peterson’s resignation and subsequent retirement ends his 30-year career in law enforcement.”

    19 years ago deputies stood outside and listened as two shot their classmates to death because that was standard training and protocol. Eleven years before that, Scot Peterson was trained to also stay outside. We all wish he had been as brave as President Trump thinks HE is, but what if it was old training kicking in?

    David for perfection

  2. Grand Locust on March 1st, 2018 12:54 pm

    The simple truth is for 20 years armed LEO or security at schools has NOT stopped killings. The paradigm that armed people will stop these shootings simply does not comport with reality. A person sneaking into a building with a weapon is going to kill people before eventually being killed, but twenty years ago when armed officers were at the school in Columnbine and did nothing, or all the slow responses since where people died, and now we have a scapegoat for not one officer, but multiple officers not timely engaging a shooter…..maybe we need to consider alternative solutions because with all the so called training there has been failure after failure as children die. There are solutions, but some simple do not want to discuss the same.

  3. mike on February 26th, 2018 10:02 pm

    wow, a sheriff has to lose his job because one of his deputies turns out to be a coward? does not seem right, and in the long run it will just make it harder to keep good men in the position. :(

  4. Cooper on February 26th, 2018 3:48 pm

    I do believe 99.9% of local law enforcement would go in the building and engage the shooter. Why? Because its what we are trained to do. Since Columbine, all agencies have to go through active shooter training. You don’t wait for backup. Its a mindset. You go in and lay down some lead. So again, there is something wrong with the mentality within this agency. Sorry Sheriff. Your Deputies could of saved lives. You are the scapegoat. You got to go!

  5. Cooper on February 26th, 2018 8:13 am

    I say that I have to agree with the Sheriffs removal, suspension, resignation, whatever. He is at the top of the LEO chain in the county. When you have a tragedy like this and your deputies don’t act according to active shooter protocol, then heads have to roll, including yours. As a retired cop, I can not fathom standing outside a school while there is an active shooter inside. And apparently, there was more than one deputy? There are some serious problems within that agency.

  6. Gary Hebert on February 26th, 2018 8:06 am

    Stop talking bout removing just do it

  7. Really on February 26th, 2018 7:04 am

    Someone to blame……Let’s have ALL the facts before we start calling for people to resign etc. The blame here lies with the shooter. I also believe some blame is to be placed on the deputy/sro who did not go into the building. I will say that you don’t know what you will do until faced with a situation…and sadly this deputy failed the most important of tests. People are so quick to jump on the blame wagon, believing everything they read on social media. What happened is a horrible tragedy, perpetrated by a clearly unstable person with pure evil in their heart. Let’s please not try and ruin other lives before all facts are known. Continued prayers for all the families that are grieving loss from this event and for law enforcement who also grieve with them.

  8. John on February 26th, 2018 6:42 am

    A lot can be said about this story, but one thing for sure is, if a law enforcement official is close to retirement he might not help you.

    You can’t trust in man when things get rough, but I know i can trust in Jesus.

  9. tg on February 26th, 2018 6:36 am

    Not a sheriff you want.

  10. Concerned Parent on February 26th, 2018 6:03 am

    This should serve as a liability wake up call for heads of law enforcement agencies. The public is no longer going to stand by while excuses are being made on why law enforcement officers and their agency heads did not act. Are our local agencies doing everything possible to help avoid a 2-14-18 event in Escambia’s schools?

  11. JJ on February 26th, 2018 5:18 am

    While not a Rick Scott fan, I 100% agree with his decision, on this. The Sheriff dropped the ball. His watch; his guys. He neglected his duty. Our deputies in Escambia County would have been running into that school and would definitely have killed the killer!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News