Jumping the gun on Sheriff Scott Israel

While there’s significant cause for concern over how the Broward Sheriff ’s Office handled the case of accused school shooter Nikolas Cruz, the question of the moment is not whether Sheriff Scott Israel should resign or be removed from office by Gov. Rick Scott, as some suggest.

People want someone held accountable for government’s failure to keep our school kids and teachers safe, no question. And the more we learn about the missteps that led to 33 people being shot at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — 17 fatally — it’s clear government at all levels let us down.

But before calling for anyone’s suspension or removal, let us first be sure we know exactly what happened on the day of the shooting — and in the days, months and years leading up to it.

That House Speaker Richard Corcoran lined up 73 House Republicans on Sunday to ask the governor to suspend Israel “for incompetence and dereliction” had all the hallmarks of a political stunt by a politician polling low in his expected campaign for governor. Behind him were the same Republicans who, six days after the massacre, blocked a move by Democrats to debate a ban on assault weapons. On both measures, Rep. George Moraitis of Fort Lauderdale, Broward’s only Republican representative, was missing in action.

It is a monumental step for a governor to remove an elected sheriff from office. It is especially tricky if that governor is a Republican who’s done nothing in eight years to address gun violence and the sheriff is a Democrat who’s riled up the NRA base by calling for a ban on assault weapons.

To remove someone from office, a governor must prove malfeasance. No governor should remove people from office willynilly. And while the South Florida Sun Sentinel and other media are reporting damning information about BSO’s response before, during and after the shooting, we don’t yet know what we don’t yet know. The same can be said about systemic failures at the state and federal levels, where people failed to do their jobs — or go the extra mile — to stop a 19-year-old from killing people with a weapon of mass destruction.

Gov. Rick Scott was right to instead order the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an independent investigation of BSO’s response to the school shooting. And Israel was right to embrace the investigation. To his credit, Israel already has an arrangement with FDLE to investigate deputy-involved shootings, a move he took to improve public confidence. That he lets FDLE handle police shootings shows he has confidence in the agency. It also means the agency knows the landscape at BSO, warts and all.

Earlier Sunday, Israel told CNN that he’d entered into conversation with a private firm to conduct “an independent after-action lessons-learned report.” But there’s no way the public would ever have accepted an investigation that Israel commissioned and paid for. It would have been a waste of time and money. The investigation has to be external.

Neither do we support Corcoran’s call for a “legislative investigative committee,” which sounds like more political theater. Besides, his “legislative investigative committee” on Hurricane Irma failed to surface much more than what standing Senate committees offered. When politicians want to score points, they call for blue-ribbon commissions. Hogwash.

Plus, when it comes to anything with guns, this community has no confidence in Tallahassee’s leadership. Heck, the Legislature has made it a crime for a city or county leader to do anything to address gun safety.

Do conservative Republicans not remember that President Ronald Reagan — their standard bearer — supported a ban on assault weapons? It was in place for 10 years, until 2004. Did it cause our democracy to fall apart? No. Did it have a significant impact on mass shootings? Yes.

And yet Corcoran, Scott and Senate President Joe Negron — who all boast A+ ratings from the NRA — refuse to “have a conversation” about the single most effective thing they could do to reduce further mass shootings.

OK. OK. Sensible gun regulations aren’t the only issue here. Neither is adequate funding for mental health services, with Florida ranked 50th in the nation. Or school safety, which five years after Sandy Hook is finally reaching the funding radar in Tallahassee. Or social services, which is always at the end of the line when lawmakers divvy up the goodies.

BSO has a lot of explaining to do.

How is it possible that deputies responded to 23 calls about Cruz without seeing a pattern that something was seriously wrong? They heard he “could be a school shooter in the making.” They heard a relative’s plea to seize his weapons. They heard he “planned to shoot up the school.” Taken in isolation, Israel says only two calls might have been mishandled and are under further review. So many repeated calls over such a long period should have alerted command staff to elevate watchful eyes.

Along with Schools Resource Officer Scot Peterson, did other BSO deputies also fail to enter the school during the shooting, as reportedly alleged by Coral Springs police? Why did Israel not have an answer to that question Sunday? And why hasn’t he examined the surveillance video?

Why were deputies watching a video feed that had a 20-minute tape delay?

Were officers given an order to stand down at the school, as some have alleged? BSO deputies are trained to defend us. Such moments are why they enter a career in law enforcement. Sure, a few may be watching the clock to retirement, but the vast majority of BSO deputies are brave and proud and would have needed a harness to stop them from going into the school. If they didn’t go, why not?

Were emergency medical officials prohibited from entering the school after the shooting ended, as has been alleged?

Why do police radios still not talk to each other? This same issue caused confusion after the shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. It was an issue in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Will the radio issue ever be solved?

How were school resource officers trained to ensure muscle memory in the event of an “active shooter?”

These are but a few of the questions. Answers are needed before jumping the gun on Israel.

In the meantime, the sheriff should stop acting so defensive and stop calling himself an amazing leader.

An amazing leader would take responsibility for the actions of his entire department. An amazing leader would ensure his people are trained, trained and trained some more to keep us safe. An amazing leader would have had a better story to tell today.

So far as we see, the only amazing leaders in this whole sorry mess are the teachers, coaches and students at Stoneman Douglas. Eagles, proud.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Elana Simms, Andy Reid and Editor-in-Chief Howard Saltz.