Republicans call for immediate suspension of Broward Sheriff
PARKLAND (FOX 13) - In separate actions Sunday, both Governor Rick Scott and Speaker Richard Corcoran called for increased scrutiny into law enforcement’s handling of the Parkland shooting.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has faced mounting pressure since it was revealed that the deputy assigned to protect the school did not intervene during the shooting.
Speaker of the Florida House Richard Corcoran sent a letter to the Governor, signed by all 73 Republican house members, calling for the immediate suspension of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for what they call incompetence and dereliction of duty.
"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 enure they receive state-of-the-art training. Sheriff Israel failed to maintain a culture of alertness, vigilance, and thoroughness amongst his deputes. Sheriff Israel failed to fulfill his duty to ensure that all of this deputies have the necessary active shooter tactical training. As a result of Sheriff Israel's failures, students and teachers died," Corcoran wrote in his letter.
Corcoran's letter lays out a specific timeline in which he says the Sheriff's Office missed several warning signs form the shooter including an incident in February of 2016 when deputies were called about a threat made by the school shooter.
According to Corcoran, deputies received an anonymous tip about Nikolas Cruz posting a threat on Instagram to shoot up his school, he included a picture of himself with guns. The deputies determined that Cruz had a BB gun and knifes. The information was reported to the school recourse officer.
Corcoran also accuses the Sheriff of not providing the SRO on duty with "state-of-the-art active shooting tactical training that meets national standards." Because of this, Corcoran says Israel is to blame for the SRO not entering the building during the shooting.
In a separate action Sunday, Gov. Rick Scott directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to immediately begin an investigation into the response of the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland.
The Broward County Sheriff's office released the following statement Sunday afternoon:
"The Broward Sheriff's Office welcomes Governor Scott's call for the Florida Depart of Law Enforcement ot investigate the alw enforcement response to the Parkland school shooting. "BSO will fully cooperate with FDLE, as we believe in full transparency and accountability. This independent, outside review will ensure public confidence in the findings."