Major Local Newspaper Calls For Parkland Sheriff’s Ouster: Scott Israel ‘Has Come Up Short’

In a long analysis on the major failures of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, the Sun-Sentinel explained they will no longer defend the controversial sheriff and called for his removal from office as soon as possible.

The editorial board said Israel’s removal is likely to happen shortly after Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is sworn in as Florida’s governor:

We stood up for the sheriff in late February, when Republican lawmakers called for Gov. Rick Scott to suspend him “for incompetence and dereliction.” We did so again in April after the deputies’ union staged a vote of no confidence in him, largely because of pay raises. We’ve suggested all along that people hold their fire until more details are known.

But after seeing the damning details in the commission’s draft report — and Israel’s troubling testimony — we cannot encourage the governor-elect to wait and let voters decide the sheriff’s fate in 2020. We can only encourage DeSantis to replace Israel with a seasoned law enforcement professional with local familiarity, not a Tallahassee partisan who lacks relevant qualifications, as Gov. Rick Scott did in replacing Broward’s incompetent elections supervisor this month.

Despite their belief that Israel performed well in certain aspects of the job, the Sun-Sentinel said he had failed his two biggest test as sheriff.

“The issue is public safety, the sheriff’s paramount duty. And on his two biggest tests — the mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas — Israel has come up short,” they wrote.

“Worse, the sheriff fails to accept responsibility for things that have gone wrong, instead suggesting that things couldn’t have been better. If he fails to acknowledge that mistakes were made — not only by individuals, but by his command — how can we expect a better outcome next time,” they continued.

The call for Scott’s removal comes as the Sun-Sentinel published a lengthy report on how the law enforcement and officials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school were “UNPREPARED AND OVERWHELMED.”

https://twitter.com/TomNamako/status/1078716950782640129

While the disastrous handling of the mass shooting in February was big, the paper also pointed to how Israel handled criticism of his department after a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport:

A lawsuit alleges BSO deputies assigned to patrol baggage claim were attending a retirement party in a conference room. An after-action report criticized BSO’s lack of leadership in containing the scene, creating a centralized command and training on disaster drills.

Israel disputed the report, saying: “Everything was done excellently.” And when the Stoneman Douglas commission asked him about the airport, he similarly replied: “The command and control was exceptional, sir.”

If Israel refuses to recognize and accept responsibility for the chaos after the airport shooting, how can we be confident he will recognize and respond to BSO’s failures at Stoneman Douglas?

“Given Sheriff Israel’s failure to learn from history — and his failures during our community’s most horrific events — we now stand with those who believe he should be removed and replaced,” the editorial board concluded.