A few tidbits on the Parkland shooting story, as we continue to try to sort out the details of Nikolas Cruz's actions and the response to his rampage (THREAD!):
The Broward school district's "Promise" program tries to curb the school-to-prison pipeline by giving kids who would otherwise be suspended or expelled another chance to stay in school. Cruz was not part of the program or ever referred to it, per Superintendent Robert Runcie.
So police pushback that the Promise program went too far in allowing Cruz's troubling behavior is misguided, Runcie said. Cruz had "serious behavior disorders" and fell under the district's special education program - until he was 18 and opted out of it. Mom agreed, Runcie said.
According to Runcie, Broward schools still expel some 300 students a year and suspend at least 1,000.
On Feb. 20, the Broward Sheriff's Office released a log of at least 39 calls received since 2010 at the address where Cruz lived before his mother died. On Feb. 22, BSO released details of 23 calls involving Cruz and his brother over the last decade.
nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/…
nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/…
It's unclear if the discrepancy in the number of calls lies in # of calls at an address vs. # of calls tied directly to the Cruz brothers, or to something else. We (and others) have asked for clarification. BSO maintains that 39 is not the accurate count of calls.
We've also asked for more details on Scot Peterson, the former sheriff's deputy at Stoneman Douglas who retired after being investigated for doing "nothing" during the shooting, per Sheriff Scott Israel. Peterson's attorney says that's "patently untrue."
nytimes.com/2018/02/26/us/…
nytimes.com/2018/02/26/us/…
One of our questions is what gun Peterson had. That doesn't change BSO policy to hunt down a shooter in most active shooting scenarios. But readers have asked, and so have we. No answer from BSO. But...
...Jeff Bell, president of the union that represents BSO deputies (though Peterson was not a dues-paying member) said there is no standard issue handgun. When deputies have to buy new guns, they have to be 9mm caliber, he said, but different calibers have been grandfathered in.
Surveillance video footage might clear up some of the questions that remain about BSO's response to the shooting. We (and I'd venture to say, most news outlets) have requested the video be made public. BSO claims it's exempt from release because it's under active investigation.
Same with police body cam footage.
Sheriff Israel's predecessor, Al Lamberti, said some of the video should be made public: "If it has no evidentiary value and it's not related to the prosecution and it's not the shooter on camera committing this act, then I don't see any harm in releasing it..."
(Lamberti continued) "...just to be able to learn from it and to restore the integrity of the public that we did what we were supposed to do," he said. /END
