The buck stops… elsewhere: Broward County Sheriff Israel REFUSES to accept responsibility despite multiple leadership failures during Parkland shooting

President Harry S Truman was fond of the expression, “The buck stops here.” The plain-spoken chief executive even had a sign with the expression made that he kept on his Oval Office desk.

The meaning of the phrase is simple: As president — leader of the government — he has to accept all responsibility for everything the government does or does not do, no matter the situation.

Corporate CEOs take responsibility for a company’s overall performance. Military commanders take responsibility for victories and defeats. Sports team captains take responsibility for wins and losses.

Leaders do that.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is no leader.

Despite multiple failures on the part of his department before, during, and after the Parkland, Fla., school shootings a couple of weeks ago, he is defiantly refusing to accept responsibility for his actions and the actions/inactions of his officers.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Israel has “rejected calls for his resignation and praised his own performance on Sunday despite numerous failures by his department in the lead up to and during the Parkland shooting which left 17 dead and 16 wounded.”

In an interview with CNN’s head propagandist, Jake Tapper, Israel even said he had provided “amazing leadership” — which even Tapper found difficult to believe.

“I’ve exercised my due diligence, I’ve led this county proudly as I always have,” Israel told Tapper in response to a question about why his department never followed up on 18 calls involving alleged school shooter Nikolas Cruz, in which concerns he was a “school shooter in the making” were never pursued.

“We have restricted that deputy as we look into it,” Israel explained, regarding the officer who responded to the call.

“You know, deputies make mistakes, police officers make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but it’s not the responsibility of the general or the president if you have a deserter. You look into this. We’re looking into this aggressively, and we’ll take care of it and justice will be served,” Israel said.

He took the same tact with a local CBS affiliate on Sunday in which he denied he had any responsibility at all for deputies who responded to the shooting but never entered the building to protect the students, including an armed school resource officer, Scot Peterson, who resigned afterward. (Related: BOMBSHELL: Florida mass shooting was ALLOWED to happen: Four deputies stood down, led by egomaniacal sheriff exposed as an anti-gun Democrat operative seeking fame.)

“I gave him a gun. I gave him a badge. I gave him the training,”  Israel told an NBC6 South Florida reporter in a video interview tweeted by Erika Glover. “If he didn’t have the heart to go in, that’s not my responsibility.”

“Leaders are responsible for the agency,” the sheriff continued. “But leaders are not responsible for a person.”

Harry S Truman didn’t think so, sheriff. Neither do other police chiefs, corporate CEOs, and military commanders. Neither does President Donald J. Trump.

So, if Israel isn’t responsible, who is? His deputies — for failing to act on so many warnings and so many incidents where Cruz should have been detained and at least provided some mental health services?

Yes.

Is the FBI responsible for failing to act on at least two tips — including one in January where a female caller warned that Cruz was out to “kill people” after buying several guns (and posting pictures of him with them on social media)?

Yes.

How about the school — does it bear any responsibility?

No; the school appears to be the only entity that acted. When Cruz became violent one too many times, school officials expelled him so he would not be a danger to other students (allegedly).

How about students themselves who knew Cruz had a short fuse?

No; adults in positions of authority are charged with protecting our kids.

Scores of Florida state lawmakers believe Gov. Rick Scott should remove Israel from office for his department’s abysmal failure in this tragedy; I agree with them.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

TheNationalSentinel.com

FreeBeacon.com