http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/b...tatements-20181214-story.html#nt=oft12aH-1la1
South Florida Sun Sentinel
December 14, 2018
As a sea of deputies descended on Stoneman Douglas High, their hunt for a killer descended into chaos as their antiquated radio system collapsed.
New statements released Friday of police on the ground show in vivid detail how critical the communications failures were as children were injured and dying inside the 1200 building, the school’s freshman building.
“I couldn’t get on the radio myself several times,” Broward Sheriff Office Lt. Steven O’Neill said, telling investigators that commanders resorted to using “people as runners” — cops on bike and on foot — to transmit messages to each other. “Hey go down. Tell those three Coral Springs guys this is where we need ‘em to go,” O’Neill explained. “Because we simply couldn’t transmit on the radio or receive.”
A year earlier, Broward deputies also had experienced serious failures of their radios in the mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where five died but fears of a second shooter led to widespread pandemonium. They were using the same system when a 19-year-old gunman slaughtered 17 staff and students at Stoneman Douglas on Feb. 14.
The radios remained in place even though the topic had been on the county commission’s agendas for at least seven years — with high-priced lobbyists pushing to win the multimillion-dollar contract.
In May 2017, four months after the airport shooting, the county finally approved $59.5 million to replace the system, but it is not expected to be ready to use until the end of 2019.
The statements of deputies who responded to the Parkland shooting point to the radios being a key problem in the highly flawed response, including the ability of commanders to coordinate tasks and take control of the situation.
South Florida Sun Sentinel
December 14, 2018
As a sea of deputies descended on Stoneman Douglas High, their hunt for a killer descended into chaos as their antiquated radio system collapsed.
New statements released Friday of police on the ground show in vivid detail how critical the communications failures were as children were injured and dying inside the 1200 building, the school’s freshman building.
“I couldn’t get on the radio myself several times,” Broward Sheriff Office Lt. Steven O’Neill said, telling investigators that commanders resorted to using “people as runners” — cops on bike and on foot — to transmit messages to each other. “Hey go down. Tell those three Coral Springs guys this is where we need ‘em to go,” O’Neill explained. “Because we simply couldn’t transmit on the radio or receive.”
A year earlier, Broward deputies also had experienced serious failures of their radios in the mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where five died but fears of a second shooter led to widespread pandemonium. They were using the same system when a 19-year-old gunman slaughtered 17 staff and students at Stoneman Douglas on Feb. 14.
The radios remained in place even though the topic had been on the county commission’s agendas for at least seven years — with high-priced lobbyists pushing to win the multimillion-dollar contract.
In May 2017, four months after the airport shooting, the county finally approved $59.5 million to replace the system, but it is not expected to be ready to use until the end of 2019.
The statements of deputies who responded to the Parkland shooting point to the radios being a key problem in the highly flawed response, including the ability of commanders to coordinate tasks and take control of the situation.