Following his suspension by new Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel vowed to take legal action. Despite reports and investigations showing numerous flaws that led to more deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, Israel proclaimed his suspension was “about politics.”
“This suspension is not about what occurred on February 14th,” Israel said. “The governor promised as a candidate – well before he had any facts of the investigation, well before the commission even began their work – that he would remove me from office. Today, he merely fulfilled a campaign promise. This was about politics, not about Parkland.”
NEW: Suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel responds to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' Executive Order: "This suspension is not about what occurred on February 14th… this was about politics, not about Parkland." https://t.co/U7vcZIgAW8 pic.twitter.com/ka1XYd0vZ8
— ABC News (@ABC) January 11, 2019
Israel went on to say no one from DeSantis’ staff nor the governor himself spoke to Israel about what happened in Parkland, and that the governor was carrying out the will of the National Rifle Association (NRA). He also suggested suspending him was an “easy” way to ignore the real problem, which is gun violence in America.
The problem for Israel is that the investigation and commission he spoke about found that the department’s active shooter training was ineffective, though they did not recommend suspending Israel. The sheriff was also criticized in the report for changing his department’s policy from saying officers “shall” confront active shooters to saying they “may” confront them. – READ MORE