Union votes on Broward sheriff
Deputies declare they have ‘no confidence’ in Scott Israel’s leadership
The vote is in and the numbers do not favor Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. A deputies’ union announced Thursday that 85 percent of its members who voted — 534 out of 628 — cast ballots expressing “no confidence” in the sheriff ’s leadership.
“He fails to listen to the people, he fails to listen to the leadership,” said Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association. “Amazing leadership starts from the top, and there is no amazing leadership here. We are a ship out at sea with no power — adrift.”
Although the plan is to present the results of the vote to Gov. Rick Scott and urge him to remove or suspend Israel, the vote is largely symbolic and does not translate into immediate action or consequence for the sheriff.
Israel wrote off the vote as “inconsequential” and a bid to extort a pay raise, while Scott punted on how he’ll proceed.
“I am accountable to the citizens of Broward County. My job is to continue to do the job I was elected to do, which is to ensure the safety of Broward County’s 1.9 million residents,” the sheriff said in a prepared statement after the union vote was announced. “I will not be distracted from my duties by this inconsequential … union vote, which was designed to extort a 6.5 percent pay raise from this agency. Those who purportedly voted in this straw ballot reflect only a small number of the 5,400 employees.”
To that, Bell said: “The sheriff is a complete liar, capital letters on that. This has never been about a contract.”
The union is in the last year of a three-year contract. It hasn’t begun talks on a new one but has been negotiating in recent weeks for raises and been told there isn’t money for more than a 2.5 percent increase, he said.
The association, a chapter of the International Union of Police Associations, called for the “no confidence” vote April 20, citing a “laundry list” of grievances topped by crushed morale amid national criticism over the agency’s disastrous response to the Feb. 14 Parkland school shooting and the sheriff’s response to the negative feedback.
An ex-student, Nikolas Cruz, armed with an assault-style rifle gunned down 34 students and staff, killing 17.
When it was realized that the Broward deputy assigned to protect the school, Scot Peterson, did not storm the building to confront the killer, but remained outside and even gave incorrect information to other arriving deputies, Israel publicly castigated him.
Bell said the sheriff has refused to take responsibility, personally or as the leader of the agency, for the failures at the scene of the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook. “It’s always everybody else’s fault besides the sheriff,” he said.
The association represents 1,050 members and its contract covers 1,300 deputies and sergeants. The vote was open to all of them, and 628 voted, including 94 who said they still have confidence in the sheriff.
Israel, a Democrat, was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2016. He’s not scheduled to face voters again until 2020.