Of Course: Deputy Scot Peterson Thinks He Did A Good Job

By now, you all have probably hear that Deputy Scot Peterson, the resource officer at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, took a position outside a door to the school and never went in, although the deputy was armed. In fact, the deputy took no action for at least 4 minutes (although he never entered the school). Although most news reports indicate that Peterson "resigned," he, in fact, turned in his retirement papers. He made sure that not only did he go home safely at the end of his shift, he also retired safely. His pension will be 75% of  the average of his top five earning years while on the job.

         To add insult to injury, Peterson has claimed that he did a "good job" handling the incident because he called in a description of the shooter and established a perimeter. In plain speak, he had Cruz in his sights and did nothing. However, the Department policy required officers to attempt to engage active shooters.

       From the latter article:

        And in an interview with the New York Times, Coral Springs Officer Tim Burton revealed Peterson hid from Cruz when the teenager started shooting.  

         Burton said Peterson 'was seeking cover behind a concrete column leading to a stairwell,' because he was worried Cruz could be lurking in the lot. He said Peterson couldn't hear gunshots or screams to lead him to the precise location of the shooting. [So how did he radio a description of the shooter?]

        Even more shocking was the revelation that Peterson had been told in 2016 about Cruz's Instagram posts about opening fire at a school. 

        Call logs released by the Sheriff's Office show that on February 6 of that year, a neighbor's son called police and told them Cruz 'planned to shoot up the school on Instagram'. 

         The deputy who responded determined Cruz had knives and a BB gun and the information was forwarded to Peterson.  

        Israel [the Broward County Sheriff] said Peterson resigned when he was told he was being suspended without pay while police conduct an internal investigation, NBC Los Angeles reported. He said the cop said he'd met the requirements for retirement.   

         'After seeing video and witness statements, and Peterson's own statement, I decided this morning... to suspend Scot Peterson without pay pending an internal investigation,' Israel said.  

        He said the video shows Peterson arrive at Building 12, where most of the killing took place, and take position outside the school. 

         Apart from getting 'on his radio' to alert police of the situation, Peterson did 'nothing' to prevent 17 innocent people, including 14 children, from being slaughtered, Israel said. 

          Israel said that instead of just standing there, Peterson should have gone 'in, addressed the killer and killed the killer,' adding that instead he 'stood outside for upwards of four minutes.'  [Cruz was only engaged in shooting for 6 minutes total].

        He said that Peterson's lack of action left him 'devastated. Sick to my stomach. There are no words.'  As Israel spoke there were tears in his eyes and he 'appeared emotional.' [Israel is a rabbit; a wolf would have been angry].

          Peterson never discharged his gun during the shooting. 

But Peterson was not alone in his dereliction of duty. He was joined by some of his compatriots at the Broward County Sheriff's Department.

When Coral Springs police officers arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, on Valentine’s Day, they saw not just the officer assigned to the school but three more Broward police officers [sic: sheriff's deputies] with pistols drawn but taking cover behind their cars as a gunman was inside killing 17 students and staff, CNN’s Jake Tapper reported Friday, citing sources.

       I had a colleague who indicated he wanted to talk to me (because I'm a "gun guy" in his words) about why anyone would need an AR-15. There are so many different ways to approach that question, I was having a hard time figuring out where would be the best place to start. But now I think my initial explanation will be because the police can't, and very likely won't, help you.