Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel declined to answer when CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him if four deputies were ordered to stand down during the Parkland school shooting.
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It was reported this week that not only did school resource officer Scot Peterson not enter the school when he knew the shooting was happening, but three other sheriff’s deputies also waited behind their vehicles while the shooter killed 17 people inside the school.
Tapper first asked Israel if it was “policy” for the Broward County Sheriff’s department to “set up a perimeter” before going into the school to stop the shooter. Israel had said in an interview after the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting that he learned it was important for officers to set up a “staging area” before entering the premises, but he denied that such strategy applied to the Parkland school shooting.
“Jake, you’re completely talking apples and oranges,” Israel said. “When we have a horrific incident of any magnitude and the incident is over and people are arriving to help and we know we have 5, 10, 12 hours of work to do, we have our police officers, fire fighters, deputies go to staging areas.”