The Fallout from Parkland Isn't Over Yet for Florida Law Enforcement

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office got its accreditation yanked last week over mishaps surrounding the 2018 Parkland school shooting, according to the Sun Sentinel.

Florida’s state panel chose not to renew accreditation for Broward, one of the largest law enforcement groups in the state, over it mishandling of the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and another shooting that killed five people at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017. The sheriff’s department has yet to make a statement, but the accreditation process is totally voluntary — it’s just something police departments do to show they’re following the best practices and guidelines.

Local police response to the Parkland shooting, which left 17 people dead, has come under intense scrutiny over the past several months. Scot Peterson, the on-site school resource officer who hid outside the high school during the shooting, was arrested on 11 criminal charges including child neglect and negligence in June.

Peterson was officially terminated from the department in early June, along with Sgt. Brian Miller.

READ more: How Parkland created a rush to arm teachers across the country

Two more Broward deputies were fired last week after an internal investigation revealed they never attempted to locate and confront the shooter inside the school.

It’s unclear how quickly the Broward County agency could win its accreditation back. The department is under new leadership — Sheriff Gregory Tony took over in January — since Gov. Ron DeSantis removed Scott Israel. Israel, who oversaw the Parkland response, also filed re-election paperwork Monday and intends to run for sheriff again, according to NBC 6 South Florida.

"This is one man, one governor, who made a political decision as a Republican to suspend a Democrat," Israel told NBC 6. "This was a politically-motivated attack against a sitting sheriff, nothing more, nothing less."

Cover image: Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, center, announces that two additional deputies have been fired as a result of the agency's internal affairs investigation into the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, at the Broward Sheriff's Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Wednesday, June 26, 2019. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)