Deputies union has 'no confidence' in sheriff Scott Israel after Parkland school shooting
Sheriff faces criticism over department's response to deadly school shooting
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Your support makes all the difference.A deputies union for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office has said it has “no confidence” in Sheriff Scott Israel – the man who oversaw the department’s response to a school shooting in Parkland, Florida earlier this year.
Eighty-five per cent of the union’s 628 members voted “no confidence” in Mr Israel in a largely symbolic this week, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The results will be passed along to Florida Governor Rick Scott, who has not indicated what he will do with them.
Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association president Jeff Bell spoke out on the night of the vote, claiming Mr Israel “fails to listen to the membership and he wants to blame everybody else for his problems,” according to CNN.
The deputies association cited a “lack of leadership” and “suspected malfeasance” on Mr Israel’s part when calling for the vote last week. The union has also said members were disheartened by the agency’s response to the Parkland shooting in February.
Mr Israel said he had no plans to resign, and claimed the union was only trying to “extort” a pay raise from his department.
“Those who purportedly voted in this straw ballot reflect only a small number of the 5,400 employees,” he said in a statement. “The unions representing the vast majority of our employees solidly support the leadership of this agency.”
Mr Israel first came under fire in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, when it was revealed that an armed sheriff’s deputy stationed at the school failed to storm inside and engage the shooter. The deputy has said he thought the shots were coming from outside the building.
Fourteen students and three staff members were killed in the attack, when a lone gunman opened fire on the school this Valentine’s Day. The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of premeditated murder in the first degree and 17 counts of attempted murder in the first degree.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting and the sheriff department’s response, at Mr Scott’s request. The governor said on Thursday that he would wait until the end of the investigation to make a decision on Mr Israel.
“[Governor] Scott believes that people must be held accountable for the reported failures in response to the school shooting in Parkland, which is why he immediately called for a full and systematic FDLE investigation into the matter,” spokesman John Tupps said in a statement.
“Once that investigation is complete, and we have all the facts, the appropriate steps will be taken to hold people accountable.”
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