In the hours after the February 14th Douglas High School murders in Florida, officers reviewed video footage from various sources in and around the school building. One of the video sources was footage from Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson's vehicle camera, and another was the officer's body camera. This footage, now released to the public, involves the first four minutes or so of the incident and shows that Deputy Peterson took a "defensive position" by his patrol car, just outside the west side of the high school, and within just a few hundred feet of the active shooter inside the building. We also know that Deputy Person was assigned to Douglas High School as the "resource officer." For reasons unknown, the officer who was specifically assigned to protect the students and faculty of Douglas did not enter the building until after the shooting was over. This has, of course (and perhaps with good reason!), outraged all concerned, as well as the nation in general. In fact, the video prompted Sheriff Scott Israel to indefinitely suspend the deputy (read "fire") pending official personnel action.
It is very easy for one to sit in the comfort of home or office and immediately criticize and even condemn this officer for his lack of action. I tend to agree with the Sheriff, that the deputy should have taken more action than merely confirming by radio that "help was on the way." But I also have to stop for a moment, lean back into my chair, and remind myself that I, like the Sheriff, was NOT THERE, and I did not know what Deputy Peterson knew, believed, heard, or saw. And I would like to point out that I am not defending his actions, just pointing out that I did not have all the knowledge he had at the time he made his decision. Yet I agree with Sheriff Israel that Deputy Peterson should have done SOMETHING!
Deputy Peterson SHOULD have done something, I say on one hand, yet having been trained as a police officer, I have to point out some things that others might overlook. First of all, training. If Deputy Peterson received similar training to that which I received, one of the first things he was taught was to WAIT FOR BACKUP! Most police patrols today are one-person patrols. Thus, when an officer is dispatched to any situation that is volatile, involves two or more angry people, involves weapons, or has indications that the suspect is in the area, that officer is advised to wait for backup. In many jurisdictions, officers can actually be disciplined for handling a situation in which a need for two or more officers is indicated. One such situation would be an active shooter somewhere inside a large building. If Deputy Peterson was trained to, and required to, wait for backup, than I cannot fault him for waiting for backup...at first.
Here is another thing that Deputy Peterson, if he was a competent officer, had to take into consideration: The shooter obviously had a semi-automatic weapon, as was clear by the rapid shots the officer could hear. The deputy quite possibly had no heavier weapon at his disposal than his assigned handgun and his taser. Should he risk confronting this well-armed shooter with obviously inferior force, or should he hold a perimeter position and wait for more and better-armed officers to arrive? In other words, would the deputy have stood a chance against the shooter, or would he have just added one more body to the count, to put it bluntly. Once dead, the officer could not prevent the shooter from arming himself with the officer's pistol as well. By the way, regular body armor will not protect against rifle ammunition, such as rounds fired by an AR - 15 rifle.
One other reason that Deputy Peterson might have chosen to wait for assisting officers would be that the deputy knew the layout of the building and would have been able to brief arriving officers without the need to wait for someone to produce blueprints of the high school. This would be a good reason to delay entry...for a couple of minutes.
Finally, a reason to delay a "knee-jerk" entry to the building was so that Deputy Peterson could attempt to firmly locate the shooter, at least to within a room or two. Knowing approximately where the shooter was would allow the deputy to make entry at another point, maybe at a surprise location, so that the officer was not simply shot dead as he walked into the building, thus helping no one, and again, providing the shooter with yet another weapon.
The difficulty for me, and for Sheriff Israel I am sure, is that Deputy Peterson continued to hold his position when he knew that kids were getting shot, he knew approximately where the shooter was, and he knew that assisting officers were still some distance away (this last bit of information is controversial, because municipal police from Coral Springs arrived to find three other Broward County deputies also holding "defensive positions" outside the building), and he knew he was the only person in a position to intervene at the moment. These "exigent" circumstances, as per police jargon, when taken together indicated that Deputy Peterson should not follow the "wait for backup" policy any longer, but that he should do whatever it took to locate the shooter and take him out of action!
I would like to point out here that a police officer is just like any other person, meaning that the police officer does not WANT to die a single day before "his time;" however, a police officer has taken an oath to protect and serve the citizens of his jurisdiction, even in the face of danger and risk of death. Citizens have placed their faith in the officer, which is why the officer has the honor of wearing his shield. But with the honor comes the reality of the responsibilities that go with the shield (or the star). There are times that an officer is called on to deliberately take an action that places him directly in harm's way. In my opinion (and, I point out that I am operating from the comfort of my lounger, with none of this officer's first hand knowledge, so I am trying to be fair) Deputy Peterson's duty was to deviate from policy, formulate some kind of emergency plan, and then execute that plan without backup officers! And do it NOW! Deputy Peterson did not take action. Unfortunately for him, many people will assume that the deputy could have saved lives if he had at least TRIED to engage the shooter. And I believe that is how history will judge him.
There is another aspect of being a police officer or soldier that most people outside of those two professions will never face. The fact is that a police officer, or a soldier, never knows how he or she will react in situation of extreme personal danger. For police officers and soldiers, training (or the lack of) makes all the difference when that time finally comes. Will the officer respond in kind with his training, or will he give in to the natural inclination to escape from the danger? I cannot speak for Deputy Peterson. I do not know whether he was following his training to the letter, that is, not moving until he had his backup with him, or whether he believed he should stay at his position in case the shooter came out of the building at or near that point. The worst-case scenario is that the deputy simply could not bring himself to leave his position of relative safety even though he could hear the gunshots just yards away from his patrol car. I hope this is not what happened.
Sheriff Israel said that what he saw on Deputy Peterson's video, as well as the statements from witnesses that he read, "made me sick to my stomach." The Sheriff felt that Deputy Peterson should have taken action, even if it was technically in violation of police training. There were lives to be saved, and God (or Fate, whatever you want to call it) had put Deputy Peterson in that exact spot at that exact moment. Whether or not the deputy could have saved lives, we will never know. But the Sheriff's suspension of Deputy Peterson indicates the Sheriff's belief that the deputy should have taken the risk, looked into the face of Death, and given his best effort to protect those people, young students and their teachers, who believed that Deputy Peterson would come to their aid.
The first four minutes of this terrible mass murder, those minutes recorded on the deputy's video, and in the statements of witnesses, whether or not the deputy could have saved lives if he had taken action, have shaped Deputy Peterson's legacy, right or wrong. Would it surprise you to know that Deputy Peterson is a highly decorated police officer, cited for his excellence in action by the local school district, and even voted Sheriff's Deputy of the Year at one point? But his decorated law enforcement career has now been redefined by those first four minutes after he arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on that terrible February afternoon.
May God protect all police officers everywhere, and may He give all officers the courage to carry out their duties even in times of danger to themselves, and especially in times of danger to the citizens they swore to protect.
And, may God bless America
It is very easy for one to sit in the comfort of home or office and immediately criticize and even condemn this officer for his lack of action. I tend to agree with the Sheriff, that the deputy should have taken more action than merely confirming by radio that "help was on the way." But I also have to stop for a moment, lean back into my chair, and remind myself that I, like the Sheriff, was NOT THERE, and I did not know what Deputy Peterson knew, believed, heard, or saw. And I would like to point out that I am not defending his actions, just pointing out that I did not have all the knowledge he had at the time he made his decision. Yet I agree with Sheriff Israel that Deputy Peterson should have done SOMETHING!
Deputy Peterson SHOULD have done something, I say on one hand, yet having been trained as a police officer, I have to point out some things that others might overlook. First of all, training. If Deputy Peterson received similar training to that which I received, one of the first things he was taught was to WAIT FOR BACKUP! Most police patrols today are one-person patrols. Thus, when an officer is dispatched to any situation that is volatile, involves two or more angry people, involves weapons, or has indications that the suspect is in the area, that officer is advised to wait for backup. In many jurisdictions, officers can actually be disciplined for handling a situation in which a need for two or more officers is indicated. One such situation would be an active shooter somewhere inside a large building. If Deputy Peterson was trained to, and required to, wait for backup, than I cannot fault him for waiting for backup...at first.
Here is another thing that Deputy Peterson, if he was a competent officer, had to take into consideration: The shooter obviously had a semi-automatic weapon, as was clear by the rapid shots the officer could hear. The deputy quite possibly had no heavier weapon at his disposal than his assigned handgun and his taser. Should he risk confronting this well-armed shooter with obviously inferior force, or should he hold a perimeter position and wait for more and better-armed officers to arrive? In other words, would the deputy have stood a chance against the shooter, or would he have just added one more body to the count, to put it bluntly. Once dead, the officer could not prevent the shooter from arming himself with the officer's pistol as well. By the way, regular body armor will not protect against rifle ammunition, such as rounds fired by an AR - 15 rifle.
One other reason that Deputy Peterson might have chosen to wait for assisting officers would be that the deputy knew the layout of the building and would have been able to brief arriving officers without the need to wait for someone to produce blueprints of the high school. This would be a good reason to delay entry...for a couple of minutes.
Finally, a reason to delay a "knee-jerk" entry to the building was so that Deputy Peterson could attempt to firmly locate the shooter, at least to within a room or two. Knowing approximately where the shooter was would allow the deputy to make entry at another point, maybe at a surprise location, so that the officer was not simply shot dead as he walked into the building, thus helping no one, and again, providing the shooter with yet another weapon.
The difficulty for me, and for Sheriff Israel I am sure, is that Deputy Peterson continued to hold his position when he knew that kids were getting shot, he knew approximately where the shooter was, and he knew that assisting officers were still some distance away (this last bit of information is controversial, because municipal police from Coral Springs arrived to find three other Broward County deputies also holding "defensive positions" outside the building), and he knew he was the only person in a position to intervene at the moment. These "exigent" circumstances, as per police jargon, when taken together indicated that Deputy Peterson should not follow the "wait for backup" policy any longer, but that he should do whatever it took to locate the shooter and take him out of action!
I would like to point out here that a police officer is just like any other person, meaning that the police officer does not WANT to die a single day before "his time;" however, a police officer has taken an oath to protect and serve the citizens of his jurisdiction, even in the face of danger and risk of death. Citizens have placed their faith in the officer, which is why the officer has the honor of wearing his shield. But with the honor comes the reality of the responsibilities that go with the shield (or the star). There are times that an officer is called on to deliberately take an action that places him directly in harm's way. In my opinion (and, I point out that I am operating from the comfort of my lounger, with none of this officer's first hand knowledge, so I am trying to be fair) Deputy Peterson's duty was to deviate from policy, formulate some kind of emergency plan, and then execute that plan without backup officers! And do it NOW! Deputy Peterson did not take action. Unfortunately for him, many people will assume that the deputy could have saved lives if he had at least TRIED to engage the shooter. And I believe that is how history will judge him.
There is another aspect of being a police officer or soldier that most people outside of those two professions will never face. The fact is that a police officer, or a soldier, never knows how he or she will react in situation of extreme personal danger. For police officers and soldiers, training (or the lack of) makes all the difference when that time finally comes. Will the officer respond in kind with his training, or will he give in to the natural inclination to escape from the danger? I cannot speak for Deputy Peterson. I do not know whether he was following his training to the letter, that is, not moving until he had his backup with him, or whether he believed he should stay at his position in case the shooter came out of the building at or near that point. The worst-case scenario is that the deputy simply could not bring himself to leave his position of relative safety even though he could hear the gunshots just yards away from his patrol car. I hope this is not what happened.
Sheriff Israel said that what he saw on Deputy Peterson's video, as well as the statements from witnesses that he read, "made me sick to my stomach." The Sheriff felt that Deputy Peterson should have taken action, even if it was technically in violation of police training. There were lives to be saved, and God (or Fate, whatever you want to call it) had put Deputy Peterson in that exact spot at that exact moment. Whether or not the deputy could have saved lives, we will never know. But the Sheriff's suspension of Deputy Peterson indicates the Sheriff's belief that the deputy should have taken the risk, looked into the face of Death, and given his best effort to protect those people, young students and their teachers, who believed that Deputy Peterson would come to their aid.
The first four minutes of this terrible mass murder, those minutes recorded on the deputy's video, and in the statements of witnesses, whether or not the deputy could have saved lives if he had taken action, have shaped Deputy Peterson's legacy, right or wrong. Would it surprise you to know that Deputy Peterson is a highly decorated police officer, cited for his excellence in action by the local school district, and even voted Sheriff's Deputy of the Year at one point? But his decorated law enforcement career has now been redefined by those first four minutes after he arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on that terrible February afternoon.
May God protect all police officers everywhere, and may He give all officers the courage to carry out their duties even in times of danger to themselves, and especially in times of danger to the citizens they swore to protect.
And, may God bless America
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