Initial Comments on the Parkland School Attack Commission Draft Report

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The safety review panel issued a draft report on the Parkland High School attack. The pdf is here->

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission Draft Findings and Recommendations

Here are my notes and preliminary comments-

Report highlights-

  • The attacker never pulled the fire alarm. Dust or smoke from the gunshots set off the fire alarm.
  • There was no working public address system in the building that was attacked. Teachers reacted to gunshots to shelter in place, or to the fire alarm and evacuated the building.
  • The attacker only shot people within his line of sight. He never entered a classroom.
  • School staff did not use the existing PA system because the call button was not in a protected (hard) corner.
  • The school staff never called a “code red” during the attack because they had never trained for an active shooter. There were no active shooter drills in the year preceding the attack.
  • The classroom walls were sheetrock and offered no ballistic protection. Students who were shot in the “hard” corners through the sheetrock walls were shot on accident rather than in a calculated and consistent manner. (In short, we were amazingly lucky!!)
  • Coral Springs 911 dispatchers could not directly contact the Broward County Sheriff’s office because Coral Springs was not responsible for law enforcement services at MDHS.
  • “…six people…stated that they brought concerns about (the attacker’s behavior), including discussions about (the attacker) being a “school shooter” to MSDS Assistant Principal…”

My Comments-

  • Law enforcement staff at all levels from Broward County retreated from the scene. Coral Springs LEOs moved toward the gunfire.
  • Free emergency alarm cellphone apps were available to LEO and school staff. Broward County Sheriff Israel demanded they be removed. (Verified by other sources and not in this report.)
  • To quote the report- “seconds matter and SRO’s cannot be relied upon as the only protection for schools.” Given that quote, the Commission Chairman, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, blinked. There is no mention of armed school staff without an additional 4+ weeks of training as required by the Florida “School Guardian” program. Gualtieri caved under political pressure.
  • The shooting portion of the event will be over by the time you set up a “coordinated command and control structure”. “Command” looks good on paper, but sargents get the work done.
  • Parts of the report are useful for reform. Other parts are political pork set up for bureaucratic profit.

Read it and weep.

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So these are “official” reports?

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They are drafts from the official commission.

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there is more than a few heads that should roll over this.
With the negligence starting at the student level and cresting with the State.
Next time David Hogg rears His stunned mug he should be asked why did he let it happen.

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