Parkland Florida deputy charged with crimes

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cjwils

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For as long as I can remember (going back about 6 decades) one of the justifications for private gun ownership has been the concept that law enforcement is not legally required to come to your defense. Now a former sheriff's deputy in Florida has been charged with 11 crimes for not taking direct action to protect and defend students at the high school where he was assigned to work. All the news people who have addressed this in recent days seem to be unanimous in saying that arresting the former deputy is totally unprecedented. I am not interested in discussing the deputy's actions here, but the legal precedent. I doubt that the person who decided to file criminal charges thought this all the way through, but could this result in a legal precedent that ultimately reduces the legal foundation of our right to be armed? Or is this situation a one-time thing that is likely to fade away? Or somewhere in between -- more responsibility for law enforcement, but no legal impact on the private right to be armed?
 
Right, my guess is that they are taking a shotgun approach to charge him with a lot of things, hoping something will stick out of all of it and/or hoping that he will cave in with a plea deal to one or more charges.
 
Charging this man strikes me as a moral statement, an outgrowth of the same principle as the 1946 Nuremberg trials of the Nazi war criminals. Their defense was that they were only following orders, which was true. Western civilization didn't accept that defense. As legal precedent, those Nuremberg trials means nothing in the American legal system, as a moral force perhaps they do mean something to us.

My guess is if you poll the average American he won't know that a policeman doesn't have a legal obligation to protect him or his children. Of course this case won't be decided by public opinion. It'll be decided by a court system. So far as I understand the background, the weight of legal precedent may be on the side of the sheriff's department's decision to refuse to help those children who were facing eminent death.

However the outcome of the charges against this officer, his failure to act for whatever justification will define the remainder of his life. The worst thing that can happen to a decent man isn't the loss of his life or his job.
 
The deputy was obviously in the wrong job, he has no courage and lacks the moral fortitude for the job; he will forever be known as a coward, and that will weigh heavy on his soul no doubt. But lest us not forget the scumbag who murdered those children, there is where you place the shame and blame.

The media if the were doing their duty should be pointing out that this deputies actions are exactly why citizens need to be able to protect themselves and their loved ones with their own means (i.e. guns, ammunition, training, laws ensuring the firearm is readily available at all times). But they won't, this story will get spun as an example of how guns have ruined a deputies life and livelihood as well.

There is only one person that I trust for my own and families safety, ME! Everyone else who performs that duty is doing it out of their own volition.
 
I don’t see it affecting citizens right to carry in any negative way. In fact this incident helped to give teachers the right to be armed in the classroom.

As for the criminal charges this is going to be interesting. While it is true the Police do not have a legal obligation to protect individuals they have duty to protect the general public/ community at large. So do schools fall under the responsibility of being part of the community? If the schools do not then is it legal for the Police / Sheriff Officers stand back while children are being senselessly murdered?

It must really suck to be a deputy right now in that department as a result of the cowards action. Trust by the public has probably taken a dive. This may be a damage control effort by the Sheriff to convince the public they will protect them when it is very oblivious they will not .
 
I’m very interested to see how this plays out. I can’t see Scot getting convicted on anything except perjury. No one knows or can prove that his inaction cost lives. Just as no one can prove his action would have saved them. They need a sacrificial lamb to make themselves look better. Still not seeing anything about the FBI dropping the ball on this guy. It’s all about the “Coward of Broward”.
 
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