“People who look to do harm look for weak people — they don’t attack people who can defend themselves. And like everybody else here we have rights to protect ourselves.”

                                                                                        Nezar Hamze Aug 4, 2017

As more information is released regarding the horrific school shooting in Parkland FL where 17 people were gunned down, we are learning there were 4 other deputies from the Broward County Sheriffs Dept that also stayed outside of the school. What would prevent so many sworn law enforcement officers from rushing into the building to engage and neutralize the threat? Only those officers and their leader, Sheriff Scott Israel would know, and we may never learn that answer. 

What we do know, is for years, prior to the Columbine school shooting, officers were trained to wait for their backup to form teams which would then enter the school to secure it and locate the bad guy. Since Columbine though, things have changed drastically, with a nationalized protocol that trains officers to immediately locate and eliminate the shooter, even if it is only the first officer who arrives on the scene. This is done in an effort to prevent more lives being lost. 

Could it be all the deputies that initially arrived were not trained to enter until backup arrived, or do we have something else at play. Well, it seems Sheriff Israel has had some controversy in the past with how things were done including the identification of the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooter in January 2017. The sheriffs office id’ed the shooter as Esteban Santiago, while knowing his true name was  Aashiq Hammad.  Sheriff Israel was also reluctant to label it Islamic terrorism  but rather a mental health  issue, despite Hammads social media ramblings and pictures to the contrary.

Another questionable action by the Sheriff are the several activists he has hired and surrounds himself with. 

In August of 2014,  Regional Operations Director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Nezar Hamze was sworn in as a deputy of the Broward  County Sheriffs Dept by Sheriff Scott Israel, despite advice of  three Broward Sheriffs Office Majors who had evaluated Hamze during the hiring process. In May 2013, they unanimously signed a form stating, “At this time, I do not recommend Officer Hamze for employment…” Hamze was found to be lying on his polygraph exam about “use of illegal drugs” and about “buying illegal drugs.”

Not Only did Sheriff Israel hire Hamze, he allowed him to keep his position with CAIR, which has been named by the US government a co-conspirator for two federal trials dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. 

Shortly after hiring Hamze, Sheriff Israel utilized his new deputy to travel to mosques to conduct active shooter training. 

  It is a guess exactly what title Hamze holds within the Sheriffs office, with limited information only labeling him a “special resource officer”. SO how is it the Sheriff permits Hamze, to instruct Muslims throughout Florida, on how to be safe and to protect themselves from crazed shooters, while at least 5 members of the same sheriffs department didn’t protect children in a school. Where was Hamze as the shooting was unfolding? Was he on duty, perhaps at a mosque training adults?

These are just some of the trainings conducted by Hamze as an employee of CAIR and the sheriffs department.

 The bottom line is the Sheriff of Broward County, Scott Israel, hired Nezar Hamze against his own departments advice, which leads to the thought is Israel capable of running a department that is up to date on ALL training, not just selected groups he has chosen to give a protected class to? 

Perhaps if Sheriff Israel dedicated more time to the entire community, this tragedy may have been prevented.