Scott calls for probe

Scott calls for probe into Broward sheriff shooting response, but not suspension

By MARC CAPUTO

Gov. Rick Scott asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the Broward Sheriff’s Office response to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland — but he opted not to suspend the sheriff despite the urging of Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran and most of his GOP caucus.

"I have asked for FDLE to immediately investigate the law enforcement response and will continue to review this matter as more facts come out. There must be an independent investigation and that is why I asked the FDLE Commissioner to immediately start this process,” Scott said in a written statement Sunday.

“I have spoken to Speaker Corcoran about his request and I understand his concerns. I have spoken to the Speaker regularly since the shooting, and like me, he wants the families to have answers and for there to be full accountability. That’s what the victims and their families deserve," Scott said.

Broward’s elected sheriff, Scott Israel, said in a written statement that his office “will fully cooperate with FDLE, as we believe in full transparency and accountability. This independent, outside review will ensure public confidence in the findings.”

The one-two punch aimed at Israel came hours after he boasted about his own “amazing leadership” in a CNN interview and said he was not responsible for School Resource Officer Scot Peterson’s failure to enter a Marjory Stoneman Douglas building while the shooter was killing 17 people.

As Peterson waited outside, three other deputies may also have refused to enter, according to CNN. But Israel told CNN’s Jake Tapper he can’t confirm or deny the report, which is under investigation.

“If they [the other deputies] did things right, we will move forward. And if they did things wrong, I will take care of business in a disciplinary matter, like I did with Peterson,” Israel said, referring to Peterson’s hasty resignation last week after the sheriff opened an internal affairs investigation into him.

“This is an active shooter. We push to the entry, to the killer. We get in, and we take out the threat,” Israel said, explaining his office’s policies that Peterson violated.

However, contrary to Israel’s suggestion, the “active shooter” protocol from the Broward Sheriff’s Office doesn’t automatically require a deputy to go in. Instead, the protocol says the on-scene deputy or deputies “may” — instead of “shall” — engage the shooter. “A supervisor’s approval or on-site observation is not required for this decision,” the document says.

A spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the language of the office’s active shooter shooter protocol and why it doesn’t specifically require a deputy to engage the shooter.

In his Sunday letter requesting Scott suspend Israel from office, Corcoran — a likely candidate for governor — referenced the training of deputies and the numerous calls for service made to the home of the shooter.

“By Sheriff Israel's own admittance, his deputies received at least 23 calls regarding Nikolas Cruz or his family, including reports that Cruz 'planned to shoot up the school,” Corcoran wrote.

“Sheriff Israel's fundamental duty is to keep the peace and protect the citizens of Broward County. He has the power and responsibility to appoint highly qualified deputies and to ensure they receive state-of-the-art training,” Corcoran wrote. “Sheriff Israel failed to fulfill his duty to ensure that all of his deputies have the necessary active shooter tactical training. As a result of Sheriff Israel's failures, students and teachers died.”

Previously, Corcoran said he wants an investigative panel to find out what went wrong at the school. He said a parent of one of the slain students might chair the committee.

One of the few House Republicans who didn’t sign the letter, state Rep. George Moraitis, is from Broward County, a liberal bastion in the state.

Before Corcoran issued his letter with the House Republicans, state Rep. Bill Hager called for Israel’s resignation as well.

Israel, a Democrat who first won office by defeating Republican incumbent Al Lamberti, said he was staying put and noted that he had issued a pointed refutation of Hager’s letter to Scott.

“It was a shameful letter,” Israel said on CNN of Hager’s letter. "It was politically motivated. I never met that man. He doesn't know anything about me. And the letter was full of misinformation.”