Scott Peterson, former Deputy Sheriff of Broward County, had one job.
He failed.
Four minutes, the time Peterson spent outside the building while students and faculty were under attack. Four minutes where he let them fight and die when he was the only one equipped for that fight.
His job was that fight.
He failed.
Peterson was the School Resource Officer for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He held that post since 2009. He was a 23-year veteran of Broward County Sheriff’s Department.
He was the assigned police officer. The county resource. The government response.
He failed. The government’s man extending civic protection, did not.
Scott Peterson may be the most reviled man in the country this morning. It’s a special cowardice that leaves an armed uniformed officer doing nothing while those specifically in his care are killed.
Hundreds of thousands of officers and veterans, millions of citizens are wishing today to have taken Peterson’s place… even had they died in the effort.
Peterson’s shame will live forever. He failed.
Peterson is not the title image of this article. That man is Scott Israel, Sheriff of Broward County.
Sheriff Israel, you failed.
Peterson failed in the moment. Israel failed much earlier. Israel has gladly thrown Peterson to the wolves.
The Sheriff failed to provide Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School an officer who could do the duty assigned. The one duty that surpasses all others in importance. The Sheriff too failed Peterson by putting him there in a position he was not ready or trained to shoulder. He failed to lead a department that would follow up on the information about the shooter, Cruz.
The FBI failed to communicate their information.
The systems put in place for protecting Parkland’s children…
Every. Single. One…
Failed
The loudest response to this failure is to give that system more to do. Great plan.
I read and hear vague vaporous concepts calling out for gun bans and the abolishment of the second amendment. Yet when challenged to solidify why those would be effective solutions suddenly…
“Well I don’t know exactly, I’m not an expert.” Understanding that is crucial to the value of your contribution on shaping policy.
“We HAVE to do something.” How about something effective in place of something emotionally driven but logically misguided according to readily available data that happens to be politically convenient to ignore at the moment.
“You just love guns and hate kids.” You’re absolutely right. My hatred of children drove my discussion with my close friends about the security at their children’s school. Whether or not they had surveillance and controlled access and is it effectively enforced. Are there active shooter plans and how thorough they are. Were they interested in any personally accountable steps like a panel of armor in their kid’s bags, talking with the faculty about communication between rooms and persons. Volunteering at the schools to be an extra set of eyes if nothing else.
“THE STUPID EVIL TERRORIST NRA IS PREVENTING THE GOVERNMENT FROM PROTECTING US!!!” No firearms rights organization had any hand in the influencing the FBI or Broward County Sheriff (Who seems to be politically opposed to the NRA anyway). Feelings to the contrary are just that, feelings.
Unproductive emotional projectionist concepts do not produce good policy.
Nobody is coming to save you.
Again. Still. And always. The first responder to a situation in front of you… is you.
