FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — More than a year after the horrific Parkland school shooting and more than two years since passengers came under fire in a baggage claim at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the Broward Sheriff’s Office has been stripped of its law enforcement accreditation over the incidents.
The Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, which is an independent body made up of 15 commissioners from around the state, voted 13 to 0 to revoke the agency’s accreditation. See also Parkland Shooting Aftermath: 2 More Florida Deputies Fired
“It is disheartening for the hardworking members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office to lose our accreditation because of the previous administration’s mishandling of two devastating events in our community,” insisted Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony in a statement.
While commissioners pointed to the agency’s performance during the mass shootings, they were also critical of Tony’s absence from the meeting at which the accreditation decision came up for a vote in Orlando on June 26. The vote was announced Monday.
“Personally I’m disappointed the sheriff isn’t here. This is something so important you have to find time,” explained one of the commissioners prior to the vote. “Everyone on this commission are chiefs and sheriffs … But we make time to make sure we are here at these events. I believe he should have been here.”
Instead of Tony, the Broward Sheriff’s Office was represented at the commission meeting by Colonel Oscar Lierena, who oversees the agency’s 1,500 law enforcement deputies.
“It’s my opinion the most significant failure was that of people,” Lierena told commissioners. “One deputy in particular probably could have changed the outcome. For that one deputy, I had probably 30 to 40 deputies speak to me afterwards. They all wished that they could have been the deputy on scene that day.”
He was referring to former Deputy Scot Peterson, who was accused of waiting outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas as a lone gunman shot student after student. Peterson now faces 11 charges stemming from the Valentine’s Day 2018 mass shooting.
In voting to revoke accreditation, commissioners noted that the assessment team did not find the Broward Sheriff’s Office to be in violation of any specific standards at the time of the December site visit or a secondary visit in May based on the criticisms contained in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission report. Indeed the assessment team recommended approval, but commissioners chose not to follow that recommendation.
“Through agency policies, we talk the talk. But by our actions we walk the walk, and are we living through our actions, the spirit of the policy and the standards of this commission,” noted the commission chair.
Accreditation in Florida is a voluntary process by which law enforcement agencies demonstrate compliance to more than 250 standards which are considered best practices. “Accredited status does not directly impact an agency’s ability to perform law enforcement services,” a spokesperson for the commission told Patch on Tuesday.
The 15 commissioners who make up the commission include Florida sheriffs, police chiefs, a judge, elected officials as well as state and local appointees.
Click Here: Cheap Golf Drivers
A troubled Iraq war veteran randomly opened fire on fellow travelers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport one year before another gunman killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Five people were killed in the airport attack, while six others were wounded and thousands fled the scene
One accreditation commissioner said the airport incident should have been a “rude awakening” for the Broward Sheriff’s Office well before the gunman walked into the Parkland school.
Pressed to say whether the county’s communications system could handle a similar mass shooting today, Lierena said he he was more confident than in the past, but still couldn’t say with certainty.
“We’ve taken steps to put Band-Aids on what is a gaping wound,” Lierena acknowledged. “There are still things that need to be done in Broward County.
Both of the mass shootings predate Tony’s time as sheriff. He was appointed to the post in January as one of the first acts of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended then Sheriff Scott Israel over his handling of the mass shootings.
Israel and six other candidates have filed paperwork with the Broward County Supervisor of Elections to run for the Broward sheriff’s post in 2020. Gregory had not filed as of Tuesday.
“Since recently taking command, I have worked on improving BSO and repairing the effects of bad leadership and negligence by focusing on training and community relations,” said Tony. “I will continue working hard to ensure that all Broward residents feel safe and that our agency’s reputation and honor are restored.”
The accreditation process involves an in-depth review of the agency’s organization, management, operations and administration, including agency goals and objectives. The process has provisions for periodic updating and review as well as the correction of internal deficiencies and inefficiencies “before they become public problems.”
Tony last week ordered the firing of two more of his deputies based on the conclusions of an internal affairs investigation into his agency’s handling of the horrific Parkland school shooting on Valentine’s Day 2018. The announcement brought to four the total number of deputies who have lost their jobs over one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
“We may have it all right on paper but if we’re not practicing those best standards then it’s not worth the paper it’s written on,” explained one of the commissioners who voted to revoke the Broward accreditation. “I can’t in good conscience vote to recommend that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office be reaccredited for this past review period.”
Lierena told commissioners that the sheriff’s office would accept the criticisms rather than withdraw from the process.
“To our fellow law enforcement agencies in Broward County, we remain a good friend, a good partner. We will still continue to provide the service and documentation that you need for your own accreditation,” he said following the vote. “And to all of the Florida law enforcement agencies, I heed you to study that Stoneman Douglas report. We pray you never have an incident like we did. But, we also pray that you prepare every day, and the lessons that Broward County paid so dearly for, I pray that you learn some lessons from us.”