Parkland, Florida Shooting: Suspension of Two SWAT Officers

In the month of February 2018, the city of Parkland in Florida that was simply tragic. This event started a series of other major events which brought the NRA and the state as well as federal authorities under severe questioning and condemnation as well. And during the process, the police department of Florida also came in the noose when two SWAT officers, namely Detectives Jeffrey Gilbert and Carl Schlosser were suspended from their duty after the Parkland aftermath.

Now, the next question that arises from this situation is what was the reason and was the reason so severe that it lead to the suspension of two officers? Both of these SWAT officers are suspended because they decided to respond to the immediate situation without any orders from the said department. The point here to remember is that it is the shooting that killed 17 innocent students and critically injured 14. Another point that is worth mentioning here is that the gunman was no terrorist or a serial killer; he is a mere student of 19 years!

According to The Florida Sun Sentinel, the two SWAT officers were from the Miramar Police Department who headed towards the high school and were on their duty. The reason given by the said police department behind their suspension is the creation of the safety issue when they intervened without any prior and official orders. 

When Jeff Marano, PBA President of Broward County was asked about the same, he was found quoting, “While it may have been a violation of policy to not notify their supervisors that they were going there, their intentions were brave and heroic, I think”. Though the people and the activists have strongly opposed the suspension, this whole scenario brings quite a relevant question into the frame and which needs to be addressed ASAP by the state as well as the federal authorities.  And the question is what should be the duty of a police officer when there is any kind of insurgency? Should he wait for the orders and other teams to reach the site? Or should he act accordingly and respond to the situation? 

Well, all the answers are in the folds of the future. All we can do is wait and see how things change and are they going to change for better or worse!