A Disgraceful, Incompetent, Grandstanding Sheriff

Blinded by political correctness and organizational stupidity and ineptitude, numerous governmental agencies and the Broward County Sheriff’s Department were demonstrably clueless about the relentless, disturbing and well-documented behavior of the Parkland assassin.

Twitter was awash with Americans calling for Sheriff Scott Israel to resign.

So egregious was the show of cowardice by four Broward County deputies and the dereliction of duty by Sheriff Israel that Roger Simon opined, “He could have flown across the country in a hot air balloon, dropping buckets of blood and guts and trailing a banner reading "I'm Gonna Shoot Up a School," and these clowns wouldn't have done anything.  When Cruz actually started shooting, they behaved like the most execrable cowards, the police hiding behind cars while students and teachers were dying.  That their boss, Sheriff Scott Israel, still has his job is the most incomprehensible development of all.”

On Saturday Bill Hager, Florida State Representative, was moved to pen a letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott:

Dear Governor Scott:

This month’s tragedy in Parkland is something we all hope to never witness. Each day, new details emerge about potential interagency breakdowns and miscommunications. We must utilize all of our resources to ensure that a horrific act such as this never happens again. In the meantime, you have the power through Florida Statute 112.52 (1) to remove Broward County Sheriff Israel for neglect of duty and incompetence. Various news outlets have confirmed that the School Resource Officer and three Broward Sheriff Deputies were on campus at the time of the attack and chose to take cover themselves rather than stepping up to protect our students. Not one of these trained officers made an effort to enter the building to protect students and teachers and save lives. It was not until deputies from the Coral Springs Police Department arrived, a Department not under the authority of the BSO, that uniformed officers actually entered the school and took action. 

Additionally, it has been reported that there were 23 calls to the Broward Sheriff ’s Office relating to Nikolas Cruz and his home, as well as 39 visits by Broward Sheriff Deputies. Sadly, this will not be the first time a review of the Broward Sheriff ’s Office will be done. 

After the mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale Airport last year a report from BSO found that BSO failed to create a unified command structure during the emergency, suffered from poor radio communication and set up an insufficient crime scene perimeter, among other faults according to Bob Norman of ABC Local 10. An investigation by Sheriff Israel into the unfathomable inaction of these deputies will do nothing to bring back the 17 victims. The Sheriff was fully aware of the threat this individual presented to his community and chose to ignore it. Sadly, he was not the only one that ignored it. DCF, Broward County Schools, the FBI and the BSO 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.

I, along with others on Twitter, did what we could to spur CNN’s Jake Tapper to ask Israel hard-hitting questions during his interview with Sheriff Israel on CNN’s State of the Union.

.@JakeTapper Manipulating children’s terror into hostile groupthink is dangerous. #ResignSheriffIsrael Instead of advancing the Democrats’ agenda, please address the cowardice of the Broward County deputies. Be honest just this once as you interview Sheriff Israel. #CNNSOTU

— PoliticalClownParade (@PoliticalClownP) February 24, 2018

To my great surprise, Tapper did grill this tool.  Here’s his answer regarding Rep. Hager’s letter to Gov. Scott:

"Of course I won't resign," says Sheriff Scott Israel, after a Florida state representative calls for Gov. Rick Scott to remove Israel for "neglect of duty and incompetence" #CNNSOTU https://t.co/zp7l37uIzV

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 25, 2018

Asked if he and his deputies had done things differently might this shooting never have happened, Israel answered:

.@JakeTapper asks Broward sheriff if he thinks the Parkland shooting might not have happened if his office had done things differently.

Sheriff responds: "If ifs and butts were candy and nuts OJ Simpson would still be in the record books." pic.twitter.com/D3aTk8RIsC

— Ellison Barber (@ellisonbarber) February 25, 2018

Not one shred of remorse.  This, dear Democrats, is your anti-gun hero.

Then he went on to praise his leadership as “amazing.”