okay, a deputy working as a resource officer ... that helps

ok, so hiding and doing nothing is better... haven't you wondered why he quit? Shame and guilt is my guess...

so, he called it in, and then what? reading more on the actual situation, it is unclear what happened from there.

do they not tell officers sometimes to 'stand down' until back up arrives, so they have 'proper' resources for the situation?

what was he told when he called it in? Did they tell him to confront the shooter alone or wait? What happened on that call and what were his actual orders?

I wonder why they leave these details out.

doing nothing BUT getting killed is better? Yeah, doing nothing and getting back home to family is better than doing nothing and being buried.

He was up for retirement is what I have read and the sheriffs office, rather than take blame for the numerous times THEY dropped the ball on this troubled youth, were going to fire him as the scapegoat, he took the pension instead.

I would've went in,being ex military I would have relied on the element of surprise..and about the time he saw me I would've dropped him ..at least that would have been my plan..I would have done everything I could have..and not stay outside while he slaughters defenseless kids..and if I died in the course of my duty..oh freakin well..

and being untrained as he was he probably doesn't know about cover and concealment which I would have used to my advantage..and even if I died at least I know I would've done all that I could..but that's me..call it being a hero I've already been written up in a newspaper for being one..honestly it's no big deal..You do what ya have to do..to right the wrongs..I couldn't think of a better way of going out, protecting the lives of the innocent..but again that's me..

yes, there is no shame in dying a hero

but there is none in choosing to live a survivor either , imho...


I would not want my unarmed or under armed loved one charging at a gunman and dying a 'hero' with other victims. I would rather they let those who have the numbers and training to stop the gunman actually STOP the gunman.

He was there expressly to provide security. It was his DUTY to do everything in his power to make sure the place was secured. It was his job to ascertain security risks and work towards comprehensive solutions to minimise those risks. It was his responsibility to carry out his duties to the best of his abilities in accordance with his training.

He failed miserably but that doesn't surprise me one bit. These bastards are tough against poor dispossessed divorced fathers who only want to see their kids and deranged homeless guys who sleep under bridges but run into their boots when real criminals show them what for!

He is alive while the children he was supposed to protect are dead.
He is a live coward while he might have been a dead hero.
Disgusting.

.

In my opinion there is..especially when you have the means to stop the slaughter of innocent children..when I heard this all I could think of was ..what a P***y..to leave those kids in the line of fire of a madman..You have a weapon it doesn't matter the ti tle..grow a set and drop his a**..

these are interesting points. Security cannot be every place and see everything all the time and 'comprehensive' solutions are in the eye of the beholder. I also am not sure it was his 'duty' to approach a situation without the proper resource to do so. I dont believe there is any real chance that he could have 'saved' those children that died, regardless of if he had tried to be a sole hero or not.

that is the point of contention isnt it?

some will believe he could have gone in alone and 'stopped' the gunman, others (possibly himself included, with years of training) did not believe it to be the likely scenario.

Again, I defer to the occasions when officers are told to 'stand down' and not enter situations of danger. Not EVERY situation can be simply resolved by one person with a gun, as much as our movies try to convince us otherwise.

Many schools and business use cops in their spare time.

Law enforcement is trained for these situations

I agree that cops are trained. I notice as well that in mass shooter situations that training doesn't result in them just sending a lone officer in to save the day EVER. I wonder why that is?


Maybe the likely success of that type of reaction is not very high.

Sorry Ms.H this is one debate with me you have no chance to win.I would rather die trying to save those kids than die knowing I left those kids to die..and if they call me a hero or not..doesn't matter to me..what would matter to me is knowing I did the right thing and all I could ..You don't leave innocent children to die just to save your butt..

This guy will never live it down and it doesn't matter the title..for the title if nothing else is...man

Most parents and the sheriff's superiors felt he was wrong in his non-action.

That's a fact.

Everyone can find excuses, those are easy to come by. Anyone can kick the can down the road and expect someone else to do the job, happens everyday.
If he didn't have the resources to carry out his duties in timely and professional manner than it was his responsibility to request - insist - that those resources be made available to him.
Again, it was his job to assess security risks and work towards minimising those risks. He didn't do that, preffering to look good in his uniform and cash his paycheck.
It is in circumstances such as those where we see who is who in law enforcement. It is when the bullets start flying that we know who is supposed to have been there in the first place and who was supposed to declare that they're not up to the task and resign!

You also might not want to abandon your own family to die to add your butt to the list of 'innocent' children you knew you could not have saved.

I would not fault him for choosing to die along with the children, I also will never fault him for choosing to live instead. Four minutes goes by fast, hesitation from fear is not much different from hesitation to assess and think of solutions that will be likely to result in 'saving lives', and not just taking our own.

I would fault him if I felt he had a real opportunity to stop the situation on his own and didnt take it, but I dont feel for most people, even trained, that would be the case.

as I said, if it was the case, authorities would not use so many of their own resources when mass shootings happened, they would just send someone who could be a 'hero' by themself.

I dont know if thats a 'fact'. I havent polled 'most parents'.

But the sheriff felt he had to appease the public with a scapegoat, nothing new. While at the same time deflecting from his own office culpability in not acting upon the list of warnings they received about this boy that might have done much more to 'save lives' than this one person ever could have.

Again, he DID call it in. cops call for back up and WAIT for back up as part of their job as well.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scot-peterson-florida-deputy-went-102503719.html

However, a ninth-grade English teacher Felicia Burgin has said she believes the criticism is unfair. “There is no one that is going to tell you a negative thing about Deputy Peterson," she said, explaining the officer wouldn’t have stood a chance against Cruz, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle.

“I don’t know what he could have done other than literally died,” Burgin added.

According to the New York Post Peterson reportedly believed he did his duty. “He believed he did a good job calling in the location, setting up the perimeter and calling in the description,” local police union official, Jim Bell said.

I would just want more factual information.

I have no idea what the school layout is or where he was in relation to the shooter or what policies are in place regarding what he's supposed to do.
The satellite image on Google maps shows kind of a convoluted school campus. In my high school there was one building, with three floors. I'm reading this happened in "building 12" among 3 floors.

For all I know the shots were echoing and he thought there were multiple shooters and just couldn't decide which one to go after first or which building one or more shooters were in.
For all I know he thought the shots were coming closer to him so was waiting.
For all I know kids kept running by his position and he stayed there to see if anyone was chasing them.
For all I know he froze up. It happens.

I don't blame him for doing or not doing anything.
What could just as easily happened is he runs in there, shoots at the shooter but ends up hitting bystanders, killing more kids. Or going to the wrong room, getting shot in the back, and now the killer has another gun.

There's a reason why there is a police "force" rather than one police man, they have a SWAT "team" rather than sending in lone gunslingers, why cops generally have partners and "backup," and they work to control the "scene."

From where I sit now trying to judge that guy based on the information I've seen is like trying to armchair quarterback a football game a friend saw in ESPN highlights.

There's just not enough relevant information.
And we'll never know what was really going on in his head, or the actual situation from his perspective.
If he ever comes forward with "his side" there is no way to determine if it's not just BS scripted by his lawyer.

Who has to Pole parents! Parents wanted protection for their children at all costs.

Don't think it was about any scapegoat!!

Media reported sheriff supervisor said "he was in the wrong. " He didn't act!!