No Confidence in Sheriff Scott Israel

Remember Scott Israel? Remember the Broward County Sheriff, the man whose department bears the most responsibility for the Nikolas Cruz shooting spree in Stoneman Douglas High School? Remember the man whose deputies were called to the Cruz home dozens of time, who were told repeatedly that Cruz was a danger… and who did nothing? Remember the man whose deputy, assigned to the Parkland High School, ran away and ducked for cover as soon as the shooting started?

I suspect that you only have a vague memory of Sheriff Scott Israel. After all, you have learned from a motley band of high school students that the fault for the massacre lies with the NRA. And besides, Israel declared that he had done nothing wrong, and so did not need to resign his post.

Many of us have found Israel’s dereliction of moral responsibility to be disgraceful and deplorable. He has resisted all of them.

The sheriff has resisted calls from nearly 100 Florida lawmakers to resign, and he refused to participate in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the shooting in March.

Now, The Daily Caller reports, the Broward Deputies Association will have an opportunity to vote no-confidence in Scott Israel:

The Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association has scheduled a no-confidence vote for Sheriff Scott Israel over his behavior during the lead-up to and aftermath of the Parkland school shooting, union president Deputy Jeff Bell announced Friday.

The union is accusing Israel of “many instances of suspected malfeasance, misfeasance, failure to maintain fiduciary responsibility by the sheriff, failure to properly investigate possible criminal conduct by members of his senior command staff and the lack of leadership that has crushed morale throughout the agency.”

The last point is worth underscoring. If Sheriff Israel is not at fault, if he did everything right, then the deputies must be at fault. When leaders resign they do so in order to preserve the morale of their troops.