Judge and Jury?

I’m a little confused here. News reports and internet web home pages are asking questions like – “Should any cop who didn’t enter the Florida high school where there was an active shooter, be fired?” and “Should the Florida sheriff policing the shooting site be removed from office?”

In response, I say, Why, should I have a voice on this? It isn’t in my expertise. An opinion, sure; I have one of those, well, maybe several! But none of them have any validity as to dispensing fairness, judgment or understanding concerning the Parkland, Florida shooting.

A jury in a court room is guided by the sitting judge, and protected by the court staff, while attorneys involved with the case are supervised closely by the judge and each other to protect the rights of the defendant and the American jurisprudence system. Our justice system is built on facts, process and fairness. It gets it right most of the time, but failures do happen. Care, however, is exercised to protect that fairness.

So why would news organizations seek public input on such issues? That is not news. It is not fact. It is opinion.

The tragedy at Parkland is multi-dimensional. The students forced to live through the harrowing event represent one element of the tragedy. The 17 dead victims are another element. The many wounded and scarred for life are yet another element.

Still, other elements exist: parents and families of the students, all of them; neighborhoods surrounding the school property; the community of Parkland, all of it; the county of Broward and its people; southern region of Florida is yet another affected element. Then there are the first responders who were stationed there, those that came in response, those who supported the responders in roles we never see (supervision, trainers, dispatchers, radio personnel, equipment managers and fleet support services.

3200 students on site at the campus including all grade levels. Responders by the hundreds. News crews with their support crews and equipment. Choppers flying overhead. And parents and neighbors concerned about the event as it unfolded, all of these people were on site or nearby. Sounds like chaos to me; a lot of confusion, fear, excitement, shock, and adrenaline.

That environment does not bode well for human actions in the best of circumstances. And we who were not there are being asked questions judging others who were there and shouldering the crisis personally?

I’m proud of the responders and the jobs they all do in horrible surroundings. They do what the rest of us would never volunteer for. They are our heroes whether they perform perfectly or not. We were not there. We do not know. And I for one will not pass judgment on the poor sole who was assigned as the officer on duty at the school. He resigned under pressure. Now it looks as though he did a credible job regardless of the pressure.

The sheriff has a large staff patrolling all the land mass of the county. And he administers the police function as well as organizational management of his large department. Passing judgment on him at a time like this is not the job of the public. It should be in the capable hands of experienced investigators and professionals who know much better than we civilians how this should be judged. Let them do their jobs.

Meanwhile, let’s minister to the needs of a frazzled local community and its people, especially the students at all the area schools. All of them are at risk from crazies who burst into schools.

But they are not the only crazies we need to watch for! No, there are many we should be alert and ready for. Let’s not be part of the crazy action by jumping in with our opinions that are mostly ill-informed.

March 2, 2018