On Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, from his position. The long awaited suspension comes after Israel miserably failed in his response to the school shooting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida back in February of 2018. The Governor made the announcement on Friday and here is what he said. This is according to CNN.
“Sheriff Israel has repeatedly failed and has demonstrated a pattern of poor leadership. He failed to protect Floridians and visitors during the tragic Fort Lauderdale International Airport shooting in 2017,” DeSantis said in a statement. His executive order states the sheriff’s office “failed to contain and maintain security” during the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting in 2017, which resulted in a breach of airport security.
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“He failed in his duties to keep our families and children safe during the devastating shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. These incidents demonstrate Sheriff Israel’s repeated incompetence and neglect of duty. The families of the victims deserve accountability,” DeSantis said.
This is a very good move by the governor and has been long awaited. Scott Israel was very incompetent at his job and should have been fired long ago. To give you an understanding on why this is a big deal, here is a little bit of background to the time of the Parkland shooting.
On February 14, 2018, an evil psychopath, who was also a former student, walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School armed with an AR 15. He pulled a fire alarm inside the building and began to open fire onto the students. The shooter managed to kill 17 people total, which was 16 students and 1 teacher, and injured many more. The shooter escaped the school and was later caught in the town nearby. This was and still is an incredibly sad situation, many parents had to deal with the fact that they wouldn’t see their children again. What’s even more sad is the fact that this was preventable, but the sheriff’s office of Broward county failed on every single level. They received 45 calls about the shooter, and did nothing. He threatened to kill himself, and they did nothing. He threatened people, and held a gun to someone, and they did nothing. The FBI was informed, but they did nothing. On the day of the shooting, 4 armed uniformed deputies refused to enter the school while children were being slaughtered. This was disgusting at the time and is disgusting now, and Israel still refuses to acknowledge his incompetence in this situation and has repeatedly deflected.
Minutes after the governor’s announcement, according to CBS news, Scott Israel held a press conference and here’s what he said.
“Let me be clear — I wholeheartedly reject the statements in the governor’s executive order,” Israel said. “They are lacking both in legal merit and valid factual basis. There was no wrongdoing on my part. I served the country honorably.”
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“This was about politics, not Parkland,” Israel said.
What an absolute joke? I mean seriously, the amount of self aggrandizement you have to hold in order to say something like this is astonishing. Who’s to blame for the incompetence of your Department then, Scott? Oh that’s right, it’s Republicans, according to him. The fact that he says that this about politics and not parkland is just asinine. I’m glad this schmuck is out.
What’s cool about this though is that I have not seen anyone from the left defending Scott Israel here. In fact, they have joined the right in thanking governor DeSantis for the suspension, I just thought that was really cool. Hopefully the next sheriff will actually be good at his job and then we can put this tragedy behind us.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/11/us/florida-scott-israel-parkland-suspension/index.html
The God and Freedom Blog 