Ouch: Broward deputies vote 534-94 that they have no confidence in Sheriff Scott Israel

That’s gonna leave a mark. It may not end his tenure as sheriff because it’s an elected position, so it’s not as simple as the county commission simply deciding to fire him. Israel was hired by the voters. Elections aren’t overturned easily, and certainly not by the people who work for the elected official. They don’t get a veto over the voters’ decision, much to the relief of one Donald Trump.

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But given what we saw in the aftermath of Stoneman Douglas, there are clearly some legitimate reasons for the deputies to feel this way, and the perpetuation of this situation is going to mean a Sheriff’s Office that’s not operating with effective interaction between leadership and the people on the ground. That could jeopardize the safety of the citizens, and that’s a situation that can’t be allowed to persist. How do you do about this?

A total of 534 union members voted no confidence, while 94 said they had confidence in the sheriff.Union President Jeff Bell told reporters that he placed a courtesy call to let the sheriff know about the results of the vote. He said the call went to voicemail. Bell said Thursday marked the union’s first vote of no confidence against a sheriff. “I am accountable to the citizens of Broward County,” Israel said in a statement after the news conference. “My job is to continue to do the job I was elected to do, which is to ensure the safety of Broward County’s 1.9 million residents. “I will not be distracted from my duties by this inconsequential IUPA union vote, which was designed to extort a 6.5 percent pay raise from this agency. Those who purportedly voted in this straw ballot reflect only a small number of the 5,400 BSO employees. The unions representing the vast majority of our employees solidly support the leadership of this agency.”

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This is either going to end very badly for Sheriff Israel or very badly for Broward County

Israel can try to slough this off as “inconsequential” if he wants to, but more than 500 of his deputies just went on record as saying they do not have confidence in their boss. That is no small matter. He sends them into life-threatening situations. In order for them to be willing to go, they have to believe the man sending them is competent. They don’t. He seems dug in, completely unwilling to leave. They’ve made it clear they want him gone. I don’t know how much of this resulted directly from Israel’s blame-shifting after this department failed so spectacularly at Stoneman Douglas. There are usually other issues besides the one we know about publicly. But Israel was so shamelessly and spectacularly bad in that situation, it’s not hard to see what the deputies also seem to see. This is not a man who belongs in such an important job. This is either going to end very badly for Sheriff Israel or very badly for Broward County. Which it should be seems to be an easy choice, for everyone but Sheriff Israel, that is.

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