Broward County’s 911 communications system was front and center at Wednesday's meeting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because that issue has been discussed repeatedly over the past four and a half years and it’s still not fixed. When someone dials 911 in Parkland, either Coral Springs first responders or the Broward Sheriffs Office responds, depending on the type of emergency. The communications systems used by those agencies don’t talk to each other, and the MSD Commission says unacceptable delays can occur.
“Parkland’s not the first time we’ve had problems with this 911 system, we had a mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport where we had problems, then more problems with the Parkland mass shooting, it’s going to happen again, it needs to be fixed,” said Commissioner Max Schachter during the meeting.
“I mean this is nuts, it’s just nuts,” added Commissioner Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
The crux of the issue is that Coral Springs Police and Coconut Creek Police use a different, higher-tech 911 dispatch system compared to Broward County’s older system, and attempts to integrate them have repeatedly stalled. Coral Springs bought an expensive hub system that could link with the county’s system, but it hasn’t even been tested. The MSD commission blames the county, saying it should let BSO run the system.
“To have the exact same situation in Parkland when you pick up the phone today and the same problems, same obstacles, the same adverse consequences that were happening in February of ‘18 are gonna happen today, it shouldn’t be that way,” said Bob Gualtieri, sheriff of Pinellas County and the MSD Commission chairman.
The Parkland families just want it fixed. Schachter, who lost his son Alex in the mass shooting, has strong feelings on this issue.
Local
“The biggest issue is egos, and people can’t get along and it’s really ridiculous, they should just put all of that aside for the sake of the county and fix this once and for all,” Schachter said.
“We’re almost five years past the murder of my beautiful daughter Gina, her 13 classmates and three teachers,” said Tony Montalto. “We need to get this fixed.”
The Commission said most school districts in Florida are way behind in setting up quality threat management protocols, but Gualtieri says Broward County Public Schools has become a model for others to follow under Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright.
“The rubber hit the road with her, and she was affecting change that wasn’t affected before, she was holding people accountable,” Gualtieri said. “And the message was, which was a whole breath of fresh air, a whole different way of doing business down here, which is, get it done.”
Of course, the Broward School Board fired Cartwright Monday night. Parkland victim Tom Hoyer, who lost his son, Luke, questions the wisdom of the decision to let Cartwright go.
“They’ve caused a lot of chaos by removing somebody who has been actually very helpful in getting things done that we wanted to get done,” Hoyer said.
Cartwright will still be on the job for the next 60 days and it is conceivable, with newly elected members joining the school board next week, that the board could rescind the firing and reinstate her.
Meanwhile, the MSD Commission Wednesday threatened to subpoena every member of the Broward County Commission to testify at its next meeting if they don’t get the 911 call system issue straightened out soon.
