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Broward Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jan Jordan will be replaced at the request of City Manager Bob Payton, according to a news release from the city.Jordan’s fallout with the city comes in the aftermath of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 14 students and three faculty members. Payton is also evaluating the city’s current contract with the BSO, which is set to expire in September 2019.
“In coordination with this comprehensive public safety evaluation process, I have proactively requested that Sheriff Scott Israel provide three recommendations to fulfill the upgraded role of major,” Payton said in a statement release by the city. The new major would replace Jordan, who has served as commander of the Parkland district since March 2017. “It is my intent to upgrade the role of captain to major prior to the start of the 2018-19 school year to continue the advancement of the city’s public safety initiatives,” Payton said.
Several sources close to the BSO told Local 10 News investigative reporter Bob Norman that Jordan, a former Fort Lauderdale police officer who was hired by Israel after his election, questioned whether deputies had set up a perimeter, something that law enforcement experts have said wasn’t appropriate when policy calls for deputies to neutralize the threat.Jordan has refused to answer questions about the shooting.
“I think that this is probably the first of many changes that we’re going to see as far as public safety in this area,” Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine, who represents Parkland, said. “When you have what you had on Feb. 14, there’s got to be accountability.”
Former school resource Deputy Scot Peterson resigned after Israel said he failed to engage the shooter. Surveillance video shows him standing outside the 1400 building while Nikolas Cruz was inside, opening fire on students and teachers with his legally purchased AR-15 rifle.
“An incident commander needs to be able to make real-time, snap decisions, and if they can’t make real-time, snap decisions, then they’re not the incident commander and somebody else needs to replace the incident commander,” Udine said. Despite that, Israel kept Jordan in place until the city’s request to remove her. “If paramedics would have gotten in there quicker, I think lives would have been saved,” Udine said.
Jordan remains employed by the BSO.
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Jordan also inexplicably denied entry to paramedics who rushed to the scene to assist the victims: “If paramedics would have gotten in there quicker, I think lives would have been saved,” Udine said.
Despite Jordan's rank incompetence, the widely-criticized Sheriff, Scott Israel, kept Jordan in place until the city’s request to remove her.
Jordan is out as commander at the city's request, but remains employed by Sheriff Israel's office.