Broward Sheriff ’s sergeant called ‘an absolute failure’

Safety commission slams agency

The state commission investigating the Parkland school shooting agreed Thursday to strengthen its criticism of the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s weak initial response to the massacre.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission, meeting in Tallahassee, spent the morning going through its draft report on the law enforcement response and agreed to further highlight the Sheriff ’s Office failures in command, training and individual performance.

Sgt. Brian Miller, the first supervisor on the scene, arrived in time to hear three or four shots. But rather than rush in or attempt to take command, the report said he took time to put on his bulletproof vest and hid behind his car on Holmberg Road, not going on the radio for 10 minutes.

“Miller failed to coordinate or direct deputies’ actions and did not direct or coordinate an immediate response into the school,” the report said. “… Sergeant Miller’s actions were ineffective and he did not properly supervise the scene.”

Members of the committee said this was insufficient.

“He was an absolute, total failure,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Commission chairman and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Miller had claimed to have been hindered by the Sheriff Office’s overwhelmed radio system, but said that explanation was “erroneous” because Miller arrived before a heavy deputy presence caused radio problems.

The panel agreed to change the language to say Miller “refused and failed to accept responsibility” for taking command. Miller has been placed on restricted duty pending an internal investigation. Miller, 57, was paid $138,410.25 in 2017.

Although the initial criticism of the Sheriff ’s Office focused on school deputy Scot Peterson, who took cover for what turned out to be a stunning 48 minutes, the report found that the problems at the sheriff ’s office ran deep.

Several sheriff’s deputies said they remembered little if anything of their active shooter training. The commission agreed to add to the report the words, “BSO’s training was inconsistent at best and was reflected in their poor response to this active shooter event.”

And Miller wasn’t the only supervisor to fail Feb. 14, the day of

Staying put

Despite growing calls in Tallhassee for his resignation, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel is adamant — he’s not going anywhere. Page 2B

the massacre that took according to the report.

Capt. Jan Jordan, the Sheriff ’s Office Parkland district chief, was described by colleagues as disengaged and ineffective during her time as the senior officer at the scene. She spent her first seven minutes at the scene in an office and then taking cover behind a parked car.

“Captain Jordan failed to timely establish an incident command and was ineffective is her duties as the initial incident commander,” the report states.

Jordan resigned after her han-

17

lives,

dling of the crisis was criticized by the commission.

Confusion continued after the arrival of the next senior officer, Col. Jim Polan, because there were multiple command posts. Polan was at the tactical operations center, not the command post.

“Colonel Polan’s absence at the CP confused others as to who was the incident commander,” the report said.

The Sheriff’s Office plans to use the commission’s findings as a basis for its own investigation, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Then, “we’ll take appropriate steps to make any necessary improvements,” she said in email.

Although there have been calls for Broward Sheriff Scott Israel to resign, he said Thursday that he had no such intention.

“I have done nothing that would warrant my resignation and have absolutely no intentions of resigning,” he said. “I am committed to BSO and the safety of Broward County. I will remain sheriff for so long as the voters of Broward County want to have me.”

The report criticized the Broward Sheriff’s Office active shooter policy for saying deputies “may” rather than “shall” go in and confront the shooter, a change made by Israel who said deputies should have discretion and not be required to undertake a “suicide mission.”

The draft report put it like this: “The use of the word “may” in the BSO policy is ambiguous and does not unequivocally convey the expectation that deputies are expected to immediately enter an active assailant scene where gun fire is active and neutralize the threat.”

But commission members concluded that this too was insufficient and said it needed to be made clear that law enforcement offices must go in immediately after the shooter.

“We’ve known this since Columbine,” said Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina was killed in the attack. “And for a law enforcement agency to reject that I think puts our most vulnerable citizens at risk.”

Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley agreed.

“We certainly know it’s a moral and ethical responsibility to go forward,” he said. “And ‘may’ takes that moral and ethical responsibility away.”

Judd said the language needed to be strengthened.

“I think we need to say in the strongest terms that was a poor decision to use the word ‘may.’ It should be shall. That is a best practice, and I think the overwhelming majority of people in our industry agree with that.”

The new wording said this: “Sheriff Israel’s use of the word ‘may’ in the BSO active assailant policy is inconsistent with current and standard law enforcement practices.”

The commission also voted Thursday to recommend school districts have the right to establish armed guardian programs without the approval of the county sheriff. Under current law, a guardian program requires approval of both the sheriff and the school board.

The panel of law enforcement officers, public officials and parents of the murdered students released its preliminary 407-page report this week. The final report will be presented to the governor and state Legislature by Jan. 1.