8 ways Parkland changed Florida -- and the country
Tragedy galvanized community into action, spurring new laws, new leadership

https://www.local10.com/news/parklan...nd-the-country


A new sheriff in town

In the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel appeared on CNN extolling his "amazing leadership." Yet few in Parkland and Tallahassee agreed.

Records showed that Broward County Sheriff's deputies were slow in their response to the shooting as officers from the Coral Springs Police Department rushed into the school. Marjory Stoneman Douglas' school resource officer, Scot Peterson, a BSO employee, became a national pariah after it was revealed he didn't engage Cruz while he was killing students inside the building. As journalists investigated Cruz's background in the months before the massacre, they found deputies had been called to his his home more than a dozen times, but he never faced criminal charges that may have prevented him from obtaining weapons.

Under this scrutiny, Israel became defensive and combative as people held protests, and billboards calling for his resignation popped up across Broward. By January, in the opening days of new Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' term, Israel, an elected official, had been suspended and much of his top staff was on their way out. DeSantis named Gregory Tony, a former Coral Springs police officer, as the new sheriff with broad support from Parkland parents and survivors.

While Israel has vowed to fight the suspension, he faces an uphill battle to convince Florida's Republican Legislature to override DeSantis' decision.