Read Full Article: There has been a great deal of information (and misinformation) that has emerged in the aftermath of the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School in Florida. A majority of it has been focused on the conduct of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) and Sheriff Scott Israel, who is an elected official in Broward County.
This conduct is hardly limited to the BSO’s conduct during the shooting – in fact, a majority of it stems from what the department already knew about the shooter:
Caller advised subject Nikolas Cruz is collecting guns and knives. Cruz wants to join the Army. Concerned he will kill himself one day and believes he could be a school shooter in the making. Caller advised Cruz was no longer living at the listed Parkland address and is now living at Lake Worth, FL. Believes the weapons are kept at a friends house at an unknown location.
Deputy contacted caller (located in Massachusetts) via telephone. No report was initiated. Post MSD incident interview: Deputy advised he referred caller to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s office.
Allowing the shooter’s violent conduct to go unpunished appears to be just the tip of the iceberg in a disturbing scheme of purposely downplaying crime at MSD High by the BSO:
The conduct of the BSO is eerily similar to the Kids for Cash scandal in Pennsylvania. However, instead of imprisoning children in a for-profit scheme, BSO was deliberately underreporting and hiding “severe criminal conduct” at public schools to secure lucrative financial grants and score political points. The Last Refuge covered the entire affair in a widely-shared and lengthy Twitter thread that will leave any reader wondering if BSO officers at MSD High were there for anyone but themselves.
After reading about the BSO’s mitigation of crimes, it should come as no surprise to hear that “do nothing” Deputy Scot Peterson received an “Officer of the Year” award – likely for doing nothing:
The “do nothing” Florida deputy who stayed outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS as a killer stalked its halls was lauded in 2014 for his work.
Scot Peterson, who resigned his post as a school resource officer last week, was hailed by the Broward County Crime Commission as a School Resource Officer of the Year for handling issues “with tact and judgment.”
Israel has publicly slandered Peterson, stating “I am devastated. Sick to my stomach. He never went in.” This appears to follow a disturbing pattern of Israel shifting the blame onto others – for instance, when it was reported that BSO had received 39 calls regarding the Florida shooter, Israel wanted the public to know that it was “only” 23 incidents (as if it made that much of a difference):