Deputies are guarding the home of the Parkland school shooting officer

[ansible]

Source: Business Insider

Deputies from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office are guarding the home of the school resource officer who was stationed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after his family requested the protection, according to multiple news reports on Thursday. Local Fox affiliate WSVN said it sent a reporter to the Boynton Beach, Florida, home of Broward County Sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson for an interview when the reporter was met with six deputies "standing guard outside."

Peterson's family is believed to have asked for the protection, according to NBC affiliate WPTV reporter Andrew Lofholm. Peterson resigned from his post at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following the shooting at the campus in which 17 people died. He was later criticized after an internal investigation found he never entered the building where the shooting occurred.

"I am devastated," Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news conference. "Sick to my stomach. He never went in." Peterson, who was armed and in uniform at the time, reportedly did "nothing" and remained outside of the building for at least four minutes during the incident, according to Israel.

Peterson had been the high school's resource officer since 2009 and made a salary of $75,673.72 in 2016, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/parkland-shooting-officer-resigns-deputies-sent-to-protect-his-family-2018-2

[Hoyt]

1. Hard to say whether Peterson should have rushed in guns ablazing without visuals of what was happeni

ng. A case can be made for that, and what he actually did waiting for backup.

But, I suspect the Chief and a lot of others are trying to scapegoat someone so they don't have to answer to why they didn't take Cruz in custody long before the shooting, or how the hell a 19 year old -- or anyone else -- can walk in and purchase one of these weapons and lethal accessories to enable a massacre.

[ansible]

2. He's a cop. He had a gun. He had a duty.

He failed.

[Cosmocat]

4. Yeah - we can be human, compassionate AND acknowledge the reality

I get what he did on a human level.

But, he took the oath, to serve and protect, and was paid a decent wage to have the job that brought the responsibility to go into the school with no thought about his personal safety and do his job.

NOT justifying what anyone might be saying or doing that would legitimize the need for him to have to have protection.

[CozyMystery]

28. IMO he would have been committing suicide

No backup. Bringing his handgun to a AR-15 fight.

I think it what the sheriff said is ludicrous. There is no way that cop could have gone in there, confronted Cruz, and shot him dead.

[uponit7771]

44. +1, people think this is the movies !!!

[Hoyt]

6. Lots of folks failed- FBI, local police, Cruz's father, folks who support lax gun laws, law makers,

etc. I'd like to hear Peterson's side of the story before making him the scapegoat for what happened.

[obamanut2012]

9. Kinda hard for Cruz's father to fail from the grave

He died over a decade ago.

[Hoyt]

10. Didn't have room for "adoptive" father who was a gunner and said he was fine with his "son"

having lethal weapons and such.

[Farmer-Rick]

34. His adoptive father was dead too

Are you referring to the couple who let him stay in their house after the death of his mother?

Though since Australia doesn't have these massacres anymore, I think the blame can firmly be placed on the Russian supported NRA and their boughten politicians.

I guess we Americans are just not as smart as those from down under.

[obamanut2012]

8. You are so wrong you should be ashamed

And delete this.

[Devil Child]

41. Why should the poster be ashamed?

Nothing incorrect about the content of the post.

The cop failed that day, one of many failings in this whole ordeal.

[christx30]

19. A cop's job is to do a forensic review

of the crime scene after you're dead. They have no obligation to put themselves in harm's way to protect anyone.
Staying alive is your job.

[denbot]

43. To Serve and to Protect..

What bullshit it is to say they are just there to gather evidence.

[uponit7771]

45. True "die playing Rambo" isn't part of serving and protecting. Bringing a gun to a rifle

... fight isn't smart and can get others killed.

this isn't the movies.

[customerserviceguy]

58. So, then

what the fuck is somebody being paid $75K a year to do? If cops only have to come in after a tragedy, as a society, we sure don't need to pay anyone that kind of money to sit around with his thumb up his ass.

[christx30]

50. To serve and protect society at large.

Not individuals.

[denbot]

51. Keep moving the goal post..

[christx30]

55. What goal post? It's a we'll know fact

that police have absolutely no obligation to help you. Sometimes they will save lives, but there have been several court cases where cops have been sued for not helping, and have won.
https://m.

Their job is to enforce the law. Maintain the status quo.
You could hold a gun in my face right in front of a cop and pull the trigger. Once I'm dead, he arrests you for murder. My family sues him for not saving my life and loses.

[NewDem17]

54. Cops do not have to protect

Cops do not have a requirement to protect anyone except themselves according to legal decisions.

[DashOneBravo]

53. Cops arent Infantry

There is no law enforcement training where the term “acceptable loss” is used. SWAT won’t stack up on a door when the bodies of the first team are lying at their feet and push through. They’ll pull back.

[IronLionZion]

3. Good guys with guns are everywhere and clearly not enough

the real heroes are the brave unarmed high school students who gave their lives to help their classmates escape. And the surviving students speaking in favor of reforms.

[DeminPennswoods]

49. CNN reported that there were 3 other deputies

at the school when the Coral Springs PD arrived. All were still outside.

[HopeAgain]

5. A teacher died protecting students

while a cop stood outside.

I sincerely doubt the teacher was making almost $76,000/year.

[CozyMystery]

31. That has no bearing on the cop's behavior and choice.

[HopeAgain]

35. Nope, just on his character.

[customerserviceguy]

59. Bingo

He was there to collect some easy money, figuring that the chances that any particular school would get hit by an active shooter were infinitesimally low. Getting $75K a year to not have to do real police work is nice, until the shooting starts. Then you have to use the option of retirement to start getting your pension for not doing anything, and it's socially OK.

[obamanut2012]

7. Sorry, I live here, and I can't blame him

The odds are also very, very good he wouldn't have saved anyone by that time, either.

And no, cops don't sign up to get into a lone firefight with someone who outguns them, and who are unknown (ie is there only one?). Cops do sign up for the possibility of death, but they are not military, even though most of these 'roided up tools act like they are.

Those kids didn't die because of him. He is not a coward, and it is kinda appalling DUers in many threads are calling him that. He showed he cannot handle this type of pressure, and there is nothing wrong with him being fired or made to resign. He will regret and what-if forever. The kids that died were already dead.

QUIT MAKING ME DEFEND COPS DAMMIT

[Hoyt]

15. +1. LOL. I know, it's hard defending police nowadays.

I think it's more likely he would have charged in had he known exactly what was going on. Ever notice how 100 police on the scene make the kids hold their hands in the air while pointing guns at them until they know long afterwards how many shooters are involved, etc.

Again, knowing what we do now, maybe it would have been the thing to do to charge in. But, I can also see a lot of innocent people being killed that way.

[atreides1]

17. Really?

It would seem that Sheriff Israel disagrees with you:

While suspected killer Nikolas Cruz fired round after round in the freshman building, during an attack that lasted about 6 minutes, Israel was clear on what Peterson should have done.

“Went in, addressed the killer. Killed the killer,” Israel said.


http://miami.cbslocal.com/2018/02/22/parkland-shooting-bso-officer-suspended-school-shooting/

[CozyMystery]

30. Imagine a scene like that ... and remember this is not a movie. nt

[uponit7771]

46. +1,people think this is the movies.

[customerserviceguy]

61. In this case

this is indefensible. He gets enough money per year to support at least a couple families, and he cowers in fear when the need to actually do something is thrust upon him. I'm sure he got paid more to stick his thumb up his ass than the teachers who dived in front of bullets to shield their students did.

[Afromania]

11. This guy had one job, ONE JOB. He deserves as much protection as he gave those kids, none.

Now, what I want to know is in what world does it make sense to ask teachers to have a shoot out when the person PAID and TRAINED(I assume) to do just that didn't move to do ANYTHING AT ALL. They want teachers to be baby sitters, guidance counselors, social workers educators and now prison/security guards. All for nothing even getting close to 75 flagging k a year.

[uponit7771]

47. His job wasn't to die trying to play movie hero. A hand gun in a rifle fight is only in the movies.

... and not real life.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

60. No

That is exactly what he and the rest of them are supposed to do. This has been the standard since Columbine. Cops are to immediately enter the scene and engage the shooter. No waiting for swat. Putting pressure on the shooter to stop him from killing more is the first priority over all others. Either he ignored his training or he was never trained correctly in the first place, which I find hard to believe since this tactic has been taught and policy at most agencies for near 20 years now.

[Afromania]

64. Having a shootout is exactly what the idiot Republicans want teachers to do, and what they

are trying to now get more funding for. The guy was an deputy and the assigned resource officer/security guard. So his job was to go in there and help. He didn't have to get into a shootout but he could have at the very least been out there herding up those kids as they came out. Instead they had to help themselves and more than a few folks died doing that while he did nothing. They had no gun, no training, and no deputation but they played hero just the same, while this cat was doing what and where?

[tblue37]

12. It is so easy for people who are safe at home to demand that someone else with a handgun

and a handful of bullets confront a crazed gunman with an AR-15 and a huge supply of ammunition.

I wonder how many of these Monday morning quarterbacks would willingly run into a hail of bullets knowing that they have virtually no chance either of surviving the confrontation or of stopping the gunman.

[IronLionZion]

16. It's even easier for gun nuts to indulge in wild west fantasies

They are always claiming that untrained people with guns would save the day.

Unarmed students really did help their classmates get to safety and sacrificed themselves. The heroes in this story don't have guns

[Chemisse]

20. I agree. It was a suicide mission. He opted not to take it on.

Even when a bunch of cops had arrived, they didn't dare go in without a tank.

Remember Columbine, when all those kids bled to death and the cops were all outside waiting to be sure it was safe?

[NutmegYankee]

56. +1000!

It's disgusting to read here.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. Protection today -- Permanent Taxpayer-funded Lifetime Disability tomorrow.

[dalton99a]

32. +1

[Cha]

14. My question is.. Why aren't the

Resource Officers prepared for a kid with an AK15 or any high powered rifle?

An assault rifle was used by Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook.

[GulfCoast66]

22. The question I think we should be asking is,

Why is it possible for people to buy high capacity weapons of war and shoot up a school.

[Cha]

23. Well yeah.. but as long as the officer

was there for the school, and with no restrictions on any kind of guns.. I thought they might have taken that under consideration.

[Lars39]

18. Why does it take six to guard one,

yet one was expected to do it by himself?

[Chemisse]

21. Imagine the hate that would be spewed toward an armed teacher who failed to take out the gunman?

The minute they give us guns, we become responsible for all those kids' lives, and failures if we can't or won't risk our lives to go after the gunman.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

27. Excellent point!

[dalton99a]

33. Headline: "Negligent teacher used blackboard, failed to watch class when student pulled out weapon"

[Chemisse]

38. "Cowardly Teacher Escapes with Students; Fails to Use Gun to Hunt Killer."

Subtitle:

Teacher Blasted for Weak Excuse: afraid her own small children would be orphaned

[customerserviceguy]

62. Bad comparison

A teacher's primary job is to teach, whether they are armed or not. What was this assclown's primary job? To give a description of the shooter to other cops after the shooting was over?

[Chemisse]

65. My point was, if protecting students with a gun became an expectation of teachers,

This is the kind of treatment they would be subjected to.

[sinkingfeeling]

24. I see no claims that anyone has threatened the deputy. I Don't harbor

I'll feelings toward the man. But I would think that people would see how totally useless arming teachers would be.
This man was supposed to be trained to handle a crisis like Parkland, so how can teachers handle it better?
.

[UpInArms]

25. Wow ... maybe they should have all been at the school that day

🤦🏽‍♀️

[meadowlander]

42. If only precognition was an actual thing.

[dlk]

26. Not Everyone Wants to Step in Front of a Spray of Bullets-Even to Save Children's Lives

Especially for the hourly rate this officer was no doubt being paid. This is the reality.

[HopeAgain]

37. This officer made over $100k last year

The Gym coaches who shielded the kids made much less, I'm sure.

[Chemisse]

39. The trouble with heroes is then we are all expected to act that way.

I admire the coaches, but I don't think I would or could do that (unless it was my own child, who I would instinctually protect with my life). I guess I wouldn't know unless it happened.

I don't blame the security guard for not wanting to sacrifice his own life, which was a likely outcome. People should not expect that of anybody.

[customerserviceguy]

63. Teachers

and coaches were willing to do it for what I would imagine was half the money.

[onecaliberal]

29. It would have been the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gun fight.

[uponit7771]

48. +1, people think this is the movies !!!

[DeminPennswoods]

36. He signed up for this duty to "protect and serve"

Last edited Sat Feb 24, 2018, 12:07 AM - Edit history (1)

I have no doubt Peterson thought the job of resource officer at MSD, in the safest city in FL, was a piece of cake and an easy gig to collect a nice 75k salary on his way to retirement, all while having little worry about ever being involved in a shootout.

However, students and teachers I'm sure were flooding 911 with calls about the location of the shooter, i.e. what floor, wing, etc. That info should've been being sent to Peterson in real time from dispatch. He should have had an idea where Cruz was and along with knowing the layout of the school, how to approach and confront Cruz safely. That was his job; he didn't do it.

As an example, back in 1966 when Charles Whitman was shooting up the Univ of Texas campus with a deer rifle from a commanding position atop the Clock Tower, police officers did figure out a way to get into the Clock Tower, move up the stairs, confront and kill Whitman.

[QC]

40. Maybe his bone spurs were acting up. n/t

[ginny skinny]

52. When I was taking whitewater safety classes...

They told us the first rule of rescue was "Don't add to the body count." Meaning was that you can't rescue anybody if you are dead.
I can't judge Peterson on this one event. What is his history? Has he saved lives during his career? No one cares, they just want to fry him for this one instance. He may have been a coward but as someone who has never been in that position and had to make a decision with incomplete information like he did, I can't judge.

[Hoyt]

66. A lot of it is the gun support folks trying to take the blame off their precious guns and put it

on some guy like this. They'll resort to anything to save their gunz.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

57. I HOPE theyre ALSO guarding the students Resisting.

That would be the right thing to do.