US: Police radio transcripts reflect confusion and inaccuracies in officer’s actions

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Thursday police radio transcripts show breakdowns in communication with new timeline addressing School Resource Officer (SRO) Scot Peterson performance during Parkland, Florida’s, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (SDHS) shooting on February 10^th allegedly perpetrated by Nikolas Cruz.

Cruz is facing 17 counts of 1^st degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder which carries a possible capital punishment sentence. After legal consultation, Cruz has since retracted his not guilty plea for a standing mute status. ‘Standing mute’ does not claim guilt or innocents and can be reversed to ‘not guilty’ by the officiating judge during the, yet to be scheduled, official arraignment hearing. Broward County Public Defender Office Head Howard Finkelstein said, “Standing mute maintains our only position: He [Cruz] did it and he will plead guilty immediately to 34 consecutive life sentences without parole,” removing capital punishment.

This comes as an amended timeline released on Thursday with 911 audio and police radio traffic. Suspect Cruz arriving at SDHS at 14:19 local time by Uber with the AR-15 variant in a dark soft case and a backpack with additional 30 round magazines. Suspect Cruz owned a Kevlar vest and may have worn it during the assault, but discarded it at sometime blending into the fleeing students. At 14:21, the assault begins as suspect Cruz enters Building 12.

The next four minutes were crucial, when the majority of the casualties received gun shot wounds. Confusion continued at 14:22 when the fire alarm was activated causing a campus-wide fire evacuation. SRO Peterson started police communications at 14:23 with, “Be advised we have possible, could be firecrackers. I think we have shots fired, possible shots fired —1200 building.”

Surveillance video shows SRO Peterson arriving at the southwest corner of Building 12 and remained in what is described as a defensive position for the remained of the seven minute assault brandishing his service handgun. As officers responded SRO Peterson yelled, “Get the school locked down, gentlemen!”

In later debriefings, officers were confused about the shooters location, the football field or Building 12/13, or if it was an active shooter due to SRO Peterson’s radio transmission of firecrackers. More confusion arose when SRO Peterson transmitted, “All right… We also heard it’s by, inside the 1200,” at 14:25.

An additional three Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) Deputies arrived at Building 12 before a large contingent of Coral Springs Officers arrived at SDHS.

The assault ceases at 14:27 when suspect Cruz discards the AR-15 variant and the remaining full magazines at the third floor stairwell. SRO Peterson then gave an order, “stay at least 500 feet away at this point.” The dispatcher relayed that information “Stay away from 12 and 1300 building.”

Coral Springs Officer Tim Burton announced the second and most accurate suspect description saying, “White male with ROTC Uniform Burgundy Shirt”. The description was a perfect description when suspect Cruz was apprehended at 15:40, yet Officer Burton has not spoken publicly on how he obtained the description.

At 14:29, Officer Burton encountered SRO Peterson describing his actions to the New York Times as, “seeking cover behind a concrete column leading to a stairwell.” Officer Burton was not the senior officer in charge of the police response instead BSO Capt. Jan Jordan was recorded for the first time at 14:31 asking, “Do we have a perimeter set up right now and everyone cleared out of the school?” Dispatcher responded, “That’s negative.”

The radio transmissions became so chaotic, the dispatcher asked for essential traffic only and declared the radios may go down. Area fire department and ambulance personnel also experienced confusion as they arrived at SDHS. In cases like this, police secure the area before medical is brought so medical personnel do not become targets. Since September 11^th, emergency services have implemented systems where officers can only hear the dispatcher and officer(s) in charge, but are able to transmit information dispatcher, reducing interference.

Building 12 was finally breeched by four Coral Springs Officers and two BSO Deputies at 14:32 for victim extraction. Building 12 was finally cleared at 14:34 with a 10 officer breech of the east entrance. At no time during the assault did suspect Cruz target law enforcement outside or using the AR-15 variant escaping Building 12. Suspect Cruz legally possessed 10 long guns which have become a lightning rod for firearm regulation reform.

SRO Peterson resigned eight days later as Sheriff Israel said he was, “devastated, sick to my stomach”. President Donald Trump addressed SRO Peterson by saying, “When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn’t have the courage, or something happened … He certainly did a poor job. That’s the case where somebody was outside, they are trained, they didn’t react properly under pressure or they were a coward.”

Since President Trump’s remarks, SRO Peterson has received messages reiterating the coward sentiment and credible death threats have prompted police protection. Trump furthered his comments February 26^th with, “I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon.”

A statement made by SRO Peterson’s attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo III, February 26^th says, “the allegations that Mr. Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue. Mr. Peterson is confident that his actions on that day were appropriate under the circumstances and that the video (together with the eye-witness testimony of those on the scene) will exonerate him of any sub-par performance.” According to Paterson, the shots came from outside and he took up a tactical position.

Upon confirmation of the failure to respond by BSO Deputies, the state of Florida opened its own investigation into the breakdowns. Government officials have since lobbied for terminating BSO Sheriff Scott Israel but has definitively said he will not resign. A lawsuit has been issued to BSO Sheriff Israel by CNN and local media outlets to acquire the surveillance videos that have yet to be released.

Two additional BSO Deputies were issued restrictive duty, now identified as Ofc. Edward Eason and Ofc. Guntis Treijis until an investigation of their performance during the shooting is completed. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation remains the lead investigative authorities, collaborating with other federal law enforcement agencies, school district, local and county police, and state internal investigations.

DiRuzzo walked back the February 26^th statement by addressing BSO policy saying, “BSO trains its officers that in the event of outdoor gunfire one is to seek cover and assess the situation in order to communicate what one observes with other law enforcement.”

The cover and assess tactic is an antiquated policy allowing active shooters time preparing for police intervention and/or taking more casualties. The tactic involves a parameter hardening and a four person heavy weapons team in a Dimond formation seeking the perpetrator(s).

The policing policy of Immediate Action Rapid Deployment (IARD) replaced cover and assess-like policies nationwide. IARD was developed after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold’s unusually long 49 minute attack on Columbine High School and the highly scrutinized 4 hour police response with a four-man heavy arms team entered the school clearing room by room, reaching the library with most of the casualties last.

Mass and school shooting policies are reevaluated after incidents like February 10^th‘s shooting. Some school districts are exploring a no bag policy, where backpacks are not allowed on campus. The clear backpack and bag policy has been implemented in high violence area schools.

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